If you don’t understand how the pandemic has affect strident athletes in the 2021 and 2022 classes then you haven’t been paying attention. Players regardless of their ability will need to work hard to Carve out a piece of attention from college coaches. Building name recognition and catching the eyes of college coaches will not and has not been easy. To put it bluntly…the 2021 and 2022 classes have there backs up against the wall. One of those players is Emma Bruen of SJV.
If you’re wondering why Emma Bruen has not committed yet. I give you one word “expectations”. You see Emma Bruen is simply not willing to settle. This is the time of year when parents, players and coaches settle. This is the time of year when the pressure gets to be too much. When the the players start watching other players commit and they feel let out and hurt. This is the time of year when dreams head off to the biggest collector of talent… THE GRAVEYARD. Emma Bruen has no intentions of letting that happen to her. You see, she has worked too hard and sacrificed too much to do this.
When a kid decides to attend SJV, they know they have made a choice that few kids are willing to make these days. They are choosing to roll with the best and play against the best. They make The conscience effort to be the best player they can be. They know their ego will have to go on the back burner. There will be no pretty stats playing against weak competition. They will not be bad practices. They know at SJV you will grow everyday as a player while others may get hype but don’t win chips and more importantly don’t develop as players. Emma Bruen has developed every year she has been at SJV. She has played against and with a who’s who of girls basketball across the country. But unlike so many SJV players of the past. She is fighting something bigger than SJV and herself… a pandemic.
One of the Benefits of attending SJV is exposure and competition. You see at SJV while AAU Is important, it’s can’t bring to the table what SJV does. You have to understand coaches flock to BATTLE OF MARYLAND to watch the SJV team. In most years this time of year over a 100 D1 coaches have been to SJV’s open gyms. This time of year coaches have seen SJV players in a real competitive basketball environment. They can make a real evaluation of a player. Coaches know if you get a SJV player; history says they will excel at the next level. It’s for these reasons the competitive player, the player who truly what’s to get better attends SJV. It’s why so many are willing to play roles rather than be stars at other schools. EMMA BRUEN made this choice. It has paid off for as a player. But even SJV can’t beat a ghost. That ghost being Covid 19 because if the coaches can’t watch the players .. the college coaches are nothing more than ghost to players.
Last weekend at NBS I shook my head with laughter as first Emma Bruen completely turned the lights off on one of the best D1 babies in the state. She hounded her into Submission. Then I matched her take a commited D1 player to “EMMA WORLD” for 2 hours. Emma world is when Emma Bruen throws a big reputation player in her pocket. She pressures them off the dribble. Gets Deflections and loose balls. It’s when she turns up her game. It’s when she gets aggressive on offense, with tough next level drives in the lane or hits jumpers in transition. It’s when she starts finding teammates and crushes opponents with her pace of play. You see Emma’s World is not a fun place to visit. The problem right now is, nobody is visiting Emma World because the pandemic will not allow this. So Emma Bruen is sitting and waiting. She is wondering how she got into this situation. She wondering what can she do to get out of it. The answer is nothing, all she and any other kid can do these days is wait. But the waiting game can play tricks on the mind and the soul. It’s in these times that kids and parent settle. It’s so much easier to accept your fate. Walk into that graveyard of dead dreams. But there is an old saying “those who work the hardest are the last to surrender”.. . Well they should have another line that says. Those who were willing to take the challenge will be rewarded. Emma Bruen reward will cone, it just will take a different, longer, road.
I see the panic in Emma Bruen’s eyes everyday. I see her trying to do more each day. I see that she leaves no rock unturned these days. There is not one basketball Responsibility will she miss. They say the hardest thing to do is show up everyday. Well Emma Bruen is showing up all day. She is not leaving anything to chance. She is watching players she has out performed commit to D1 schools. She doesn’t understand it. She has checked every box a kid is suppose to check; yet she is still on the board. Covid 19 has entered her life at the worst time. She knows it will break at some point but it has to be Frustrating. She knows college coaches won’t be out until January 1st if she’s lucky. Emma Bruen is no question wondering how this can all be happening? She is.a good player in one of the best schools in the country. She plays for a task master in Dawn Karpell. Don’t coaches love these type kids from these type programs? She is a gym rat. She has been to war in practice and games. Hell her practices are tougher than most teams best games. So how can she be in this spot. Well I gave the answer.. because life is not always fair.
So Emma Bruen waits is disbelief these days. But I have some good news for Emma Bruen, if she doesn’t panic, the schools will come. They most certainly will come. They will come because the things she brings to the table all coaches need. They will come because history tells us that the great ones are surrounded by greatness. Emma has been surrounded by such greatness for years. They will come because she has paid the price so few are willing to do. Here is what I know for a fact. I don’t get it wrong very often. My track record speaks for itself.. call it what you want, ego bragging or whatever. But most folks can read and look where 95% of the kids who have committed and where they train. But I know another place with a even better track record… SJV, because you can’t think of the last SJV player in college, riding a bench. They go to college and kick ass! Well guess what ? Emma Bruen is going to go to college.. A DIVISION ONE COLLEGE.. because she is going to kick COVID 19 in the ass… it may kill a lot of dreams but EMMA BRUENS WON’T BE ONE IF THEM… She has come to far!.. oh yeah and she is too damm good💪
