Basketball was Emma Von Essen’s destiny.
Since before she was born, Emma Von Essen’s dad has been at the head of Game 7 Sports, an after-school program on Long Island where students can learn and develop their basketball skills. By the time she was old enough to go to school, it was decided that she was old enough to play ball.
“I was just always around basketball,” Von Essen said. “I got to kindergarten, and I started dribbling, and I was at [my dad’s] summer camps all the time.”
From there, she went to Lutheran High School, where she played on their varsity team for all four years.
“I played for a really, really good high school,” Von Essen said. “They just got No. 1 in the country for basketball.”
That pretty much sealed her fate for playing the highest levels of basketball.
“[With Lutheran] our practices were like college practices, and we traveled like college players,” Von Essen said. “So, the transition was pretty easy.”
The strength of the school, and by extension Von Essen herself, was confirmed by her high school head coach, Christina Raiti.
“Every single day at practice, first kid in the gym, last kid to leave the gym,” Raiti said. “She was just an extremely hard worker. She had her fair share of time where she got her butt kicked as a freshman and a sophomore.”
What helped the Rockville Centre native start her collegiate career on the right foot was the fact that she stayed close to home to continue doing what she loves. In a sea of spectators, there’s one group of people she hears cheer the loudest, without fail, every time she steps into the David S. Mack Sports & Exhibition Complex.
“There’s so many people from my town [who come],” Von Essen said through a smile. “And [the] little girls, that’s the best thing ever. I was them. I came to Hofstra when I was little; I played at halftime games when I was like eight years old too.”
Indeed, she holds every single one close to her heart, because she knows that it’s exceedingly rare for women to have the spotlight in sports. Von Essen looked back on when Hofstra hosted the youth clinic for girls before playing North Carolina A&T State University as one of the happiest memories she had playing here.
“There were like 200 girls in the clinic, and I knew so many of them and it’s just so cool seeing that,” Von Essen said. “A lot of them are girls that train with my dad or girls from St. Agnes [Catholic Youth Organization], my hometown church where I also played basketball.”
With that comes the question: how does she handle the stress of playing in front of those that consider her a hero?
“I try not to look,” Von Essen confessed. “I don’t really get nervous for games but it’s just like, wow, everyone’s here, now I really have to do good.”
Von Essen has more than proven that she tries to “do good,” according to the coaching staff.
“She never got too rattled; she’s a fearless freshman,” said Hofstra head coach Danielle Santos Atkinson. “She didn’t come in as a typical freshman. She was very much so ahead of the curve.”
Her former coach took it a step beyond that, saying that it’s not talent but how she reads the court that sets her apart every time she steps on the hardwood.
“[For] some kids, their talent comes easy for them. [Von Essen] works for everything she does,” Raiti said. “She has a gift for just being able to feel the game out and to understand some higher-level concepts. I think the idea of her understanding Xs and Os of basketball is a lot different than other players. She’s able to put other teammates in spots to be successful.”
In fact, that was one of the most attractive things the coaches saw in Von Essen before coming into this team, on top of the fact that she’s local – meaning she has the advantage of a personal cheerleading squad.
“The biggest things that we saw was her versatility at that guard spot, her ability to score, as well as her skill in her basketball IQ,” Atkinson said. “Emma has a whole fan club section. When you recruit local players like that, you’re able to bring their support system with them, in essence, so it’s special when you get to keep those local players home.”
Despite the fact that Von Essen is known for dropping 3-pointers like it’s no big deal, considering she leads the team in that category, confidence on the court has never come naturally to her. A wrist injury on her shooting hand made matters worse, slimming down her chances to start the season the way she wanted to.
“When we came back [from summer break] she had to have surgery on her wrist. The team had been practicing for five weeks without her, [so] she had to get her confidence back,” Atkinson said.
To hype her up, the coaching staff stepped up and posted one of her favorite quotes on social media:
“Some women fear the fire, some women simply become it,” by R.H. Sin.
Turns out, she took being bold a step further.
“I also really liked the quote ‘No guts, no glory.’ That’s another one of my favorites,” Von Essen said. “Last year, in the beginning of my senior year, I used to play it safe. And it’s like alright, nothing’s gonna happen if you don’t have guts to do it; nobody else is [going to] do it for you.”
What really helped solidify her confidence was a core memory with the team, specifically the come-from-behind win against Army West Point.
“In the last two minutes, we came back, and we won. And we went in the locker room, and we’re all like out of control, so happy. We always wait for the coaches to come in and someone said for us to get our waters,” Von Essen said. “It was a complete splash-fest. I would relive that a million times. And that’s just what keeps me going; I just want to keep winning and having those celebrations.”
With just a week of the regular season left for the women’s basketball team, so long as Von Essen stays cheesin’, it looks like the ball is in her court.
Photo courtesy of Alexis Friedman/Hofstra Chronicle
