Cheta Emba’s journey from Harvard soccer to Olympic rugby
GLEN ALLEN, Va. (BVM) — Breaking down Cheta Emba’s athletic career is much like that of any young athlete. When she was young, Emba was brought up in her hometown of Glen Allen, Va., a suburb of Richmond, where she would play numerous sports. Her family had instilled in Emba a passion to play soccer, which she began at the age of 5, following in the footsteps of her brother, while the surrounding neighborhood pushed her to the sport of basketball with pickup games in the street.
Like all aspiring athletes, Emba would continue playing both sports into her high school years at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond.
Emba wouldn’t just be good at both sports, she would excel. While she performed more than admirably in basketball with multiple all-district honors, Emba’s best work came on the soccer pitch. Emba first began separating herself from the pack as a goalkeeper on the state’s Olympic Development team which she joined as a sophomore in high school. As a goalkeeper for the Green Dragons, Emba started all four years while being named all-district soccer honorable mention in 2008 and 2009 with second-team honors in 2010 while earning all-academic soccer team selections from 2008-10.
Though she excelled in both sports, Emba didn’t get the same athletic experience as some other high school athletes, playing for a small level school that put academics ahead of athletics. Although it was difficult at times, Emba was able to pull a lot of lessons from her days at the Governor’s School.
“Sports wasn’t the big focus at that school,” Emba said. “I think it was good for me in a sense that we were a smaller school, smaller team so every game pretty much was a tough matchup for us. I was pushed to be scrappy and work hard and we were really big on the team focus.”
With the heavy academic influence of the school, Emba also had the reputation of being an excellent student. Emba was named a National Merit Finalist and was a member of four honor societies: general, Spanish, English and science. For her classroom and on-field work, Emba was nominated for the Lexus of Richmond Leadership Award and won the award over 29 other nominees to earn a $25,000 stipend.
Emba was able to earn a scholarship to play Division I soccer at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Unlike other athletes who put their biggest focus on their fit with the team or the school’s facilities, Emba saw her offer to Harvard more as an opportunity as well as a challenge.
“When I set foot on campus it wasn’t like, ‘Oh this is the perfect fit I’m going to get everything I want out of it,’” Emba said. “I honestly had more of a sense of this was going to be an exciting and cool environment, but definitely a challenging one and that just kind of stuck in my mind. For some reason, it just compelled me to think like this might be the spot. What a great opportunity to pursue both areas you love.”
Although she was a young upstart at the school, Emba would make an immediate contribution to the Crimson in her first two seasons, posting a 3-0 record over 10 games with 19 total saves. Emba’s junior year is where the Virginia native went from player to star.
As a junior, Emba was named to the All-Ivy second team after playing in 13 games in the goal with 10 starts. During her time between the pipes, Emba had a record-breaking 0.14 goals against average, which is still an Ivy League record, after allowing just one goal through 626 minutes. Overall, Emba posted a 5-1-2 record and had a season-high four saves against Princeton and in the NCAA Tournament at Boston University. As a senior, Emba started 10 games posting a 0.86 GAA and a .784 save percentage. Over her four years in the net for the Crimson, Emba would help the squad win three conference titles.
“My focus more so was pushing myself to learn and grow and develop as much as possible to be the best I could be and continuing thriving,” Emba said. “It was just exciting seeing some of the fruits of my hard work. … It was exciting personally, but also more so at a team level to say we were all contributing to the success.”
While she always loved soccer during her time with the Crimson, Emba found another sport drawing her interest on campus. A few of Emba’s roommates at Harvard were a part of the school’s women’s rugby team and felt that if she watched the game she would fall in love. After watching a few games, Emba decided she wanted to give the sport a chance to help her crosstrain on her soccer skills in the offseason.
“I saw there was an open field and lots of running and the combination of my athletic background in basketball and soccer was a part of the game,” Emba said. “It was intriguing, so when I learned it was also becoming a varsity sport, wheels started turning that this could be a cool opportunity.”
When the Harvard women’s rugby team officially became the school’s 42nd NCAA-sponsored sport during Emba’s junior year, she joined, although she had never played before. While she had to agree with her coaches to still prioritize her soccer career, Emba was quickly accepted.
Rugby in many ways is like soccer. Both are played on similar-sized pitches and both can utilize kicking to gain advantage of the field. Rugby also involves a lot of hand-eye coordination, which as a goalie was one of Emba’s specialties along with her top-notch conditioning and ability to take a few hits from diving on the ground for saves.
Before long, Emba did what she always did when she picked up a new sport: dominated.
While the team didn’t do well record-wise during her first year as a member of the squad, finishing 6-16-1, Emba was hooked.
“(Rugby) is a sport where you have to use every ounce of yourself to apply your best self to the game and to support your teammate,” Emba said. “That was a new challenge and something you don’t really find in other environments.”
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For her senior season, Emba helped to bring the entire Crimson team into the national spotlight. As a senior, Emba would be selected to the United States National Team for the Super Series in Canada. While she had only been a part of the team and the sport in total for a couple of years, Emba was fully invested in bringing her game to the next level.
Emba was invited to a USA Rugby Sevens camp at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in California. With only a couple of years of experience under her belt, Emba was selected as an alternate for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Rugby Sevens team in Rio De Janeiro. It was the first time in Olympic history that rugby sevens was recognized as an Olympic sport and Emba was among the first 14 U.S. women to participate in the historic event.
Although she wouldn’t see playing time in Rio, Emba was even more inspired to return to the Games for the 2020 competition and perform for the USA team. She didn’t want to return next time as an alternate, but as a selected participant.
“It’s hard to put into words what that reaction was like because it was such an emotional time,” Emba said. “I was so incredibly appreciative to serve as a traveling reserve and an alternate. … (The experience) was incredibly inspiring and a shaping period of time for me in terms of my mentality on the pitch and my knowledge as well. It was challenging, but very valuable and definitely served as motivation.”
In her years leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Emba established herself as a mainstay on the national sevens team where she would play in numerous tournaments around the world including the 2018 Rugby Sevens World Cup where she helped the team finish fourth. She also played 15s in her preparation for the Olympics as well, being part of the U.S. team that finished fourth in the Rugby World Cup in 2017.
While Emba prepared to join the team for the Olympics this summer, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. With that, Emba’s dream to play for the U.S. in an Olympics is also delayed one more year. However, Emba is not concerned over this misfortune, instead taking it as an opportunity to improve herself heading into next summer while trying to reach her ultimate goal.
“It would mean so much,” Emba said of making the Olympics. “Being able to represent my family, represent my country, represent the things that I stand for on that stage I can’t even put into words. I’m so humbled at the thought of getting that opportunity. It’s rare, very unique and very special. It would mean so much and that’s part of why I continue to train and why I am doing everything I can to reach that goal.”
As one of USA Rugby’s bright young stars, Emba has a great chance to achieve her Olympic dreams next year. Although it may not be the way she envisioned it happening when she was a young soccer player, the rugby player will take it any way she can. While some may shy away from their background, Emba wears it as a badge of honor.
“It’s a mark of perseverance and commitment in that I stuck with it over this period of time,” Emba said. “It hasn’t been without its challenges. There are highs and lows, but I think understanding your purpose and your values go a long way in helping you to continue to rise to the occasion and continue building and progressing.”
