Field-Hockey
Favorite athlete: Alyssa Chillano
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: Beating CB South freshman year in the rain, giving them their only SOL loss all season
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: During one of our practices, we were playing a partner game called sister-sister. I ran to my friend who was supposed to catch me, but I ran too fast causing both of us to collapse on the ground laughing.
Music on iPod: Ed Sheeran, J Cole, and Carrie Underwood
Future plans: To attend college and become a pharmacist
Favorite motto or words to live by: “Be the beacon of light in someone’s darkness” –Randi G Fine
One goal before you turn 30: To travel to Europe
By Mary Jane Souder
Emma Herb can’t help but wonder what might have been.
Where would the North Penn senior’s journey have taken her if her knee had not inexplicably given out in a club field hockey game the winter of her sophomore year.
“It was the last game of the tournament – the first 30 seconds,” Herb recalled. “I took the ball, I dribbled, I made one move around the girl, and I fell.
“She didn’t touch me, nothing happened. They all just thought I sat down because apparently I looked extremely graceful, but that’s not how it felt. No one thought I was really hurt, but I couldn’t get up.”
Herb was carried off the field, and although she didn’t know it at the time, her dream of playing Division One field hockey was beginning to unravel.
“I had never been seriously hurt like that before, so it was kind of a shock,” she said. “My coach ran over and said, ‘What’s wrong?’
“I said, ‘My kneecap popped out,’ but I was putting pressure on it. I was walking around. This was the beginning of the season, and I told my teammates – ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a couple of weeks, no big deal.’”
But it was a big deal. A visit to a doctor at CHOP confirmed that she had torn her ACL.
“He told me I’d be out for a year,” Herb said. “I was shocked. I didn’t know what to do. It was the most important time for recruiting.
“I’m terrified of doctors, I hate needles. I was in the doctor’s office, and I was so nervous. I didn’t want to be there. He said, ‘We can talk about your options – how to proceed. You’re more than welcome to get a second opinion’ – all doctor talk.
“We went out in the car, and I lost it. I was devastated. I was so upset. A year not only meant that I would not go to nationals with my team, but I would be out the rest of the indoor season, and I would miss my entire junior season for outdoor. It was a hard pill to swallow.”
At the recommendation of a friend who gave her private lessons and had gone through a similar injury, Herb set up an appointment with Dr. Michael Ciccotti, the doctor for the Philadelphia Phillies.
“He took a look at me and said, ‘You’re a little bit young, but I’ll take you’ because he only takes 16-year-olds, and I was 15 at the time,” Herb said. “He said that ACLs could take anywhere from six months to a year depending on where you go but he could have me cleared in August during preseason. He was amazing - He really took care of me.”
On Feb. 21, Herb had surgery to repair her torn ACL, and although she received the best of care, it didn’t change one very important reality – she was sidelined during the most crucial recruiting period.
“I’m the oldest child in my family, so we didn’t really know recruiting,” Herb said. “We didn’t know what we had to do, so we didn’t have a video made so they could at least see that. We were really behind.”
When preseason rolled around that August, Herb was cleared to begin playing, but she was not in playing shape.
“When they say six months, you really think – ‘Six months and I’ll be ready to go,’ but that’s not how it is at all,” she said. “Six months came, I was cleared and I could play, but I wasn’t really ready to play.
“I was still struggling to get in shape. The first time after he cleared me to run – I think my mile time was like 12 minutes. That’s just unheard of. A good mile for me is like 6:30, 6:45 or seven minutes, something like that. It was frustrating. It really was.”
By midseason, Herb, a four-year letter winner, played her way back into the starting lineup.
“My teammates were amazing,” she said. “They were so supportive. Everyone has to run the timed mile the first day of preseason. I ran all summer once I was able to, and I still only got myself up to a nine-minute mile time.
“The captain of the team at that time – Casey O’Donnell - had already finished her mile. She was tired, but she came and ran with me. Even though it was really tough, I had the full support from my team, which was amazing.”
The recruiting process for Herb’s talents didn’t come to a halt, but it changed.
“I talked to some coaches, and they expressed an interest,” she said. “They said, ‘You have potential, we could see you as a fit here,’ but the schools that were looking at me weren’t really where I wanted to go.
“I wanted to go to a big school, I wanted to go to football games and have a good time. I went to North Penn, which is a big school, so I really knew that was for me. The big schools - you have to be phenomenal to go, and at the time, I wasn’t.”
And the script Herb had written for her field hockey career was not to be.
“I would have wanted it all,” she said. “Committed to a D-1 school with a good coach and a friendly team and a school that would allow me to pursue my intentions of becoming a pharmacist – injury free, of course.
“It really hurts because who knows where I could have gone if I hadn’t torn my ACL. That’s always in the back of my mind.”
***
Herb – who grew up participating in everything from ballet to gymnastics to softball - began playing field hockey in fourth grade. She got her introduction to the sport attending a clinic at the Indian Valley Boys and Girls Club.
“I just really got into it,” she said. “I joined a local travel team (FSC) and started playing indoor.
“It got really competitive, and I loved it. I quit all my other sports and threw myself into field hockey. It came naturally to me. I have always loved it.”
In eighth grade, Herb switched to the X-Calibur club program. She went to the National Indoor Tournament with her team, and two years in a row was chosen to play on a Junior Premier Indoor League (JPIL) squad.
A member of the high school varsity squad as a freshman, Herb appeared to be on the fast track to play at the Division One level. Until her injury.
Aware that this past fall could be her final hockey season, Herb savored every minute she spent with her team.
“Especially the last games – we almost didn’t get into the playoffs,” she said. “I told my team, ‘I’m probably not going to play ever again. You are some of my best friends. I want to go as far as we can.’
“I try not to take anything for granted. My team is amazing. We’re so close. It was just really hard knowing it was about to end, but I had such a good time this season.”
Herb finished second in total points for a Maiden squad that advanced to the District One AAA Tournament.
“She has a way that she gets her stick in the play,” coach Shannon McCracken said. “In the circle, she does a great job of getting her stick on the ball and in the play.
“She’s really a great passer. She has really good vision of the field. She sees her teammates really well, and she sees the open space really well. She definitely came back strong. She worked really hard in the offseason.”
Beyond the scoring, Herb – named a co-captain - was a positive leader.
“She’s a great kid,” McCracken said. “The kids really respect her. She’s the kind of teammate the younger girls look up to, and a lot of her teammates go to her when they needed some encouragement.
“She’s more of a quiet leader. She wasn’t extremely vocal on the field, but the girls watched her. She led by example, and I know she did a lot for the girls off the field. She’s a very positive person – she always has a positive attitude.”
Herb is active in school life off the hockey field. She is helping to plan North Penn’s first MiniThon to help fight pediatric cancer. She also volunteers her time to help collection donations for Operation Christmas Child at her church.
With her sights set on one day becoming a pharmacist, Herb – a member of the National Honor Society – is looking at Penn State and West Virginia, among other large schools.
“As far as field hockey goes, I hope to play club,” she said. “It’s not really the end I thought I would have when I started it all.”
