Emily Plachta '22 Recruiting Profile

    Hi, my name is Emily Plachta. I am a member of the 2022 graduating class from Huntington High School in Huntington, New York. I started playing basketball when I was about 5 years old, and I haven’t stopped loving it since. I started out playing for a few local teams at first, but when I realized that it was something I was interested in pursuing in the future, I signed up for some camps that would help me work on my game. After getting sent to play with girls that were a few years older than me at a local camp, the head coach of the Lightning basketball organization approached me and said, “I need you on one of my teams,” which led me to play for Long Island Lightning which later became Premier Basketball NY, before switching to play for the Long Island Renegades. I also started as a freshman as a guard on my varsity team in high school. Playing basketball has helped me learn more about myself, both on and off the court. I have learned what being a team is like, where we all put in work to come out victorious and learn. I have discovered that I am extremely competitive, and as soon as people around me realize it too, it was like all of a sudden this little shy girl from primary school came out of her shell and became a beast on the court. I have also learned that I am very passionate about things that I care about and pay very close attention to technique and detail, which has guided me toward pursuing a career in engineering. I went through two injuries in the 2018-2019 season, a concussion followed by a stress fracture, that caused me to have to take some time off from basketball. But being sidelined only made me realize that some people don’t have a team or a hoop, or even a ball, and can only dream about playing basketball. So when I step out on the court, I make it a mission to play to the best of my ability, and to never give up. On Christmas break of 2017, I went to Spain to see my family, and even had the opportunity to attend a basketball camp held by my cousin's team. My favorite part was that even though I couldn’t communicate with them verbally, I could through my game. We didn’t feel awkward, and we left our hearts on that court. At the end we all took a picture together and gave each other high-fives, and silently we were all saying, “thank you for sharing your love of the game with me.”