March 17, 2009

Class:  Freshman

Height:  5’ 6”

Position:  Guard

Heroes / Inspirations:  Candace Parker, St. Mark’s Seniors, Mr. Mike Williams (“He used to play for St. Marks – and he’s the person that knows the most about basketball, at least that I know of.  He’s an inspiration to me.”)

Other Sports:  Track

Other Interests:  Sports Medicine/Therapy; Student Council; Blue/Gold Club

 

Until this website came along, junior varsity teams and players have had a history of neglect.  It’s not that junior varsity isn’t respected.  It’s worse than that.  It gets no attention at all!  At DelawareGirlsBasketball.com, we feel JV is just as deserving of press coverage as CYM, AAU ball, and yes, even high school varsity.  JV players are trying just as hard as varsity.  Some would say even harder.  At JV, they are trying to work their way up.  Trying to catch the eye of the varsity coaching staff.  They feel the pressure every single game.  Pressure to do well.  Pressure not to make mistakes.  We feel they have a story to tell.  A story every bit as valid – every bit as interesting – as their varsity counterparts.

 

One player with such a story is St. Mark’s freshman, Emma Grey, our 2009 Junior Varsity Player of the Year.  Her road to capturing the honor was anything but short and sweet, however.  The process began with DGB.com approaching four JV head coaches of solid, year in, year out contending programs.  These coaches were asked to list 3 or 4 deserving girls.  From a combination of their “votes” and our own game observations, we settled in on Emma.  But in order to be sure of this selection, we contacted her coach, Val Karch, and asked her to make Emma’s case.  From this testimony, any possible doubt was erased.  We knew we had the right player.

 

Here are excerpts from Coach Karch’s endorsement: 

First, from a coaches standpoint, she is the kind of player you just love to coach.  She puts 110% into every drill, scrimmage and game.  She genuinely tries to get better every time she picks up a basketball.

 

From a player's standpoint, she is extremely versatile and can excel at any position.  I used her mainly as a shooting guard, but in some games, I needed her to play forward and/or point guard.  She's a huge threat whenever she is in the game because she has great ball handling skills, can shoot from the outside or drive.  But she also has great post moves and can rebound like a forward.  She is also very quick and arguably our JV's best defensive player.  She wasn't always our highest scorer...in fact, most times she wasn't....but she brought something into the game that, in my opinion, was much more valuable than scoring with her defensive intensity, rebounding and play making ability.

 

She got hurt in our 1st round game against St. Elizabeth and was unable to play in our championship game against Ursuline.  It was a huge loss for the team.  But she led the team from the bench keeping the intensity high, leading "defense" cheers and constantly keeping her teammates positive and focused.  She is definitely our JV team's most valuable player.

Emma began playing hoops at the tender age of 6 at a local YMCA.  She would move through the St. John the Beloved “in-house” 4^th grade program, then onto regular CYM starting in 5^th grade.  When asked what keeps her motivated about the sport, she eagerly answers, “I don’t know...  The energy level I have, when I play, it’s just such a fun sport.  I don’t know how to describe it.  Even when we lose, it’s still fun.  I love learning from it.”  Asked for her favorite aspects of the game, she continues, “I love defense, driving and passing.  I like to share the ball.  I love it when our whole team gets involved in the game instead of just one player.”

 

Most 9^th grade student-athletes would be excused from having any loftier, more thought-out goals than simply winning the next game.  Not Emma.  I asked her if she ever thought beyond the next couple of years – to her senior year and beyond – and if she thought basketball would still have a place in her life.  “I’d love to make our senior year, our team, really strong.  I’d love for us to become really close, because we have a really good team coming up.  To go to the State Championship in my senior year – that would be one of my big goals that I would want to accomplish.  My dream college to play basketball at would probably be Tennessee.  I’ve always followed Pat Summitt, and I would love to play for her.  But if not, just anywhere where I could play basketball.”

 

While it’s enjoyable to muse about things 3 and 4 years away, Emma is focused and determined on the near future, too.  Her quest to climb the basketball ladder at St. Mark’s hit a snag during the Catholic Conference JV Tournament at the end of the regular season.  In the penultimate contest of the tourney, while involved in game action, she had a fall and suffered a moderate injury to her right knee.  Thankfully, there was no full tear of the ACL, but there was partial damage there and in another section of the knee.  As a result, her season ended a game early, and she was thrust into injury rehab, which she does after school at St. Mark’s with the help of a rehab specialist.  Assuming a full and speedy recovery, Emma plans on practicing with a local AAU team this spring, with an outside chance that she may even be cleared to play before their season is over.  For Emma, there is still more hoops than with the AAU team.  “We work out with the team [St. Mark’s] about 3 days a week, there’s summer league, and I also go to several camps.  I might be going to a ‘stay away’ camp this summer.  I mostly work out on my own with skills and fundamentals.”

 

Lastly, she shared with me what it meant to her to be named JV Player of the Year.  “I couldn’t really believe it!  I thought that a bunch of other people would’ve gotten it ahead of me.  Especially on my team, because we had such a great team.  Players like Kara Gallagher or Natalie Clark, or Meghan Carter from Ursuline, who’s my friend.  They all deserve it!”  It’s obvious that she knows who the great JV players are.  What may not be as clear to her is that the name Emma Grey belongs in that list, too.

 

Emma allowed our DGB.com camera crew to shadow her as she went through her knee rehab routine at St. Mark's.  Here, she is doing a lifting exercise under the supervision of Calvin, the trainer.

 

I couldn't do this one on two good knees!

 

Resistance exercise.

 

Being the good sport that she is, Emma smiled for us a few times during these workouts, but it's really serious, strenuous business.  We post these pictures as a valuable insight for parents and players alike.  First, it shows the dedication and devotion to basketball of this special student-athlete.  Second, it shows the risks and realities of playing basketball.  It's not all glory and headlines.