Who is Emma Sturdivant?
She's an Orange, California native. You may remember that she was a two-time All-SoCon First Team performer and Chattanooga Athletics Female Athlete of the Year in 2018.
You may remember her for her accolades on the field, but did you know that she was interested in becoming a lawyer or that she transitioned into coaching after her playing days had come to an end.
Emma Sturdivant did in fact grow up in Orange, CA where she had her hand in many different sports from a young age, including, volleyball, basketball, and soccer in addition to softball which she elaborated on how she ended up falling in love with the sport.
"I was just young putting my hands into a few different sports trying to figure out what was going to be my kind of avenue there and softball just kind of clicked pretty early on and me and my dad had a really great time practicing together/playing together," she continued, "So it just felt natural, it felt very easy for me to dig down into that sport so I stayed the course and look where we ended up (chuckling as she finished that sentence)."
Now, the big question that I had was being a girl from California, how in the world did she end up in Chattanooga, TN!?
"The real reason (Like she would lie about it) was because coach Reed made a lasting impression on me really quickly. The recruiting rules were a little different back then so I was about 14 years old when I first met coach Reed," Emma quickly realized this is where she really wanted to be, "I was talking to a couple of other schools but after all of my conversations with coach Reed and the rest of the coaching staff I realized that this program was something that felt very comfortable to me."
She also knew that she didn't want to stay in California, while most were trying to get to Cali, she was trying to expand her horizons in order to experience as much as this life has to offer from an adventure standpoint.
"I never in a million years thought Tennessee. When I thought of moving away, I thought of places like New York, Florida, places with big cities but every conversation I had with coach Reed from the point I met him until now I've always said that everything, he's said has been 100% truthful and that just really stuck with me."
So, with the trust of Mocs head softball coach Frank Reed, she was off to Chattanooga, TN where things would begin a bit rocky for her.
Emma didn't get the opportunity to come into UTC and play right away as the team was very good. They had just come off a season in which they won a Southern Conference Championship in 2015 so she was forced to take a backseat as she redshirted her freshman year.
However, within that year she learned some very valuable lessons and the most valuable was how to be a student of the game.
"The thing that I learned the most was to be able to play a little quicker, the game at that level of the sport is much quicker than you're used to and being able to learn how to play a little more selflessly," she continued by talking about trying to slow the game down, "You have to play at the speed of your brain, so if your brain's moving a thousand miles per hour before your body is you have to figure out a way to get cohesive with both."
After her redshirt season she was locked in on making an impact, but it would be met with a little adversity when she tore her hip in September of 2016, the fall prior to the 2017 season so she was relegated to finding a different role as the designated player. With the torn hip she wasn't able to play defense and was forced to focus a lot on hitting which ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise because it helped her become a better college hitter.
During that 2017 season she hit .299 in 37 games played with five doubles, eight runs scored, and eight RBIs.
Her best season would come during her final full season as a Chattanooga Moc in 2019 where she hit .329 in 54 games played, smacked 11 doubles, hit four home runs, scored 16 runs, and drove in 40 runs to help lead UTC to another SoCon Tournament Title.
After the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic she turned to coaching while she attended Grad School at Wagner in New York. Emma spent two seasons there and has recently returned to Chattanooga to accept a volunteer assistant coaching position on coach Reed's staff. It's amazing when the sports world comes full circle like this.
For what's next beyond this season for Emma, she isn't quite sure...
"We'll see, I'm having a great time coaching, so I don't see a reason to stop it right now but if for some reason I do want to be through with softball then there's always law school to fall back on."
Who knows what she'll ultimately end up doing but we do know this, whatever she does she seems like a person that'll be successful at whatever she chooses, and we wish her the best of luck this coming season coaching at her Alma-mater here with the Mocs.
To listen to the full conversation, check it out here.