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Passing it on

WAHS sophomore Ruhlman holding virtual basketball workouts to keep kids ‘busy through this hard time’

@bball_emmaR15 Emma has a Twitter handle for her basketball handles.

There have been many ways people are giving back during the virus pandemic.

Warren Area High School sophomore Emma Ruhlman is doing what she does best — sharing her love of basketball with as many people as she can.

Since it can’t be on the basketball court with teammates right now, she’s putting her knowledge of the game and social media together for free one-on-one type practice sessions.

“The information has been posted on Facebook (Lisa Sanders LaVan) and Twitter (@bball_emmaR15) and I have been holding the workouts through the free Zoom app,” said Emma.

“During this pandemic and quarantine, I have had more free time then what I know what to do with,” she said. “Basketball is a huge part of my life and not being able to play or be in a gym has been hard, but I am trying to stay positive and one of those things helping me do that is helping teach these little kids.”

Emma Ruhlman.

Sessions are scheduled on Wednesdays and Fridays for the whole month of April with first-through-third-graders going from 9:30 to 9:50 a.m. and fourth-through-seventh-graders from 10 to 10:30 a.m.

As of right now the next sessions will go on for the whole month of April on Wednesdays and Friday’s with 1st-3rd graders going from 9:30-9:50 am and 4th-7th graders from 10-10:30 am.

“Depending on how much longer we are going to be stuck at home, the sessions will probably continue into May,” said Emma. “I hope more kids can join and that I can help them sharpen their skills and keep them busy through this hard time.”

In case you didn’t know, Emma is a Region 6 first-team all-star from this past season for the Warren Area High School Dragons varsity girls basketball team. She’s also been a District 10 champion, and has aspirations of playing college basketball.

But resume-building isn’t what this is all about.

Times Observer photo Emma Ruhlman.

“Personally, I want to really focus on improving my fundamental skills and strength during this time at home,” she said. “I think it’s so important that we all use this time to better ourselves in any ways we can. With that in mind, I started thinking about all the younger ones who have been home these past few weeks with not much to do. I have been lucky enough to have a very basketball-involved family, especially a coach for a mom, who is always able to get me drills and stuff to work on. I also have been able to get lots of workouts and drills from trainers on social media. However, many of these kids at home don’t have a mom or dad as a coach and don’t have access to social media to see workouts and drills being posted. That’s what kind of made me think, ‘hey, what if I could give them workouts and stuff to do at home?’ It started with me texting the members of my high school team and reminding them that I’m always available to help provide workouts and such, and then my mom had the idea to do it through Zoom and invite people to join and I said, ‘well, how about all the little kids that came to the camp we held earlier in the year?’ We both thought it was a good idea so that’s when I started planning out days to do it and what age groups to reach out to.

“At first, we advertised towards mostly girl hoopers, but quite a few boys have joined which I think is awesome so it’s kind of become and thing for anyone and everyone!”

Emma’s first couple of sessions have totaled about 20 fellow hoopsters.

“I had about six first-to-third-graders join the workouts and our focus this week was King Drills and footwork off of a jump stop,” she said. “With the fourth-to-seventh-graders, we had 14 participants each session which was great to see! We did some more advanced stuff in these workouts and focused on ball control and ball manipulation. At the end of each workout, I gave the kids a drill/challenge to do for ‘homework,’ so they have something to work on until the next call and then they show me their progress.”

Homework? Sounds like we have a future coach on our hands.

“Emma absolutely loves the game of basketball,” said her mom and coach, Lisa LaVan. “It brings her so much joy. She had so many amazing big sisters through our program. She grew up in this program over the last 13 years (since she was three-years-old). She knows it is all about family and helping others. All she wants to do is give back to others and allow them to feel the joy that she feels with basketball.”

Emma said, “Zoom is super cool and it actually allows me to show live video footage of myself doing the drills and I can watch everyone participating do them as well and help out and give feedback. A few girls that I know, personally, that have taken part are Jenna Kophazy, Caitlin Barney, Lily Hokel and sister, Anna Hagberg, and Emma Gray. There a few others from this area that have joined and quite a few from other areas as well, including Slippery Rock, New Castle, North Carolina, and even Mexico.

“Basketball is so important to me and it has become a huge part of my life and I want to make a future out of it,” said Emma. “I have been around the game for as long as I can remember. I have always been a little spoiled having a mom for a coach because I get basically unlimited gym time, so it’s been rough not being able to go shoot and workout at the high school gym or at the YMCA. My ball and basketball hoop at home have become my BFFs! This time of year is when I play AAU for the Western PA Bruins and my season has been postponed indefinitely which has been very upsetting.

“I miss my teammates and coaches so much and I miss traveling all over the country with my mom to play in front of college coaches in order to get recruited,” she said. “I love just being able to play games and having that taken away from me right now has been rough, but this time has really helped me go back to my roots and remember why I became so obsessed with this game in the first place, and that’s the joy I get from working out and dribbling and shooting that ball.”

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