Senior captain of the WHS softball team, Emilia Podeszwa, is on track to being a successful collegiate softball player after graduation to play D1 at Binghamton University.
Any athlete going through the recruitment process knows the stress it can hold over one’s head. It is a need to be perfect in front of recruiters and coaches. When asked about her experience in the recruiting process, she stated, “Personally, I hated the recruitment process…..Luckily coaches saw me in person, saw me play, and decided to recruit me.” While she faced many trials and tribulations, she had to account for a factor in the recruiting process that some athletes do not have to face if they’re lucky enough. Podeszwa is a multisport athlete that faced a serious injury during her senior soccer season. She broke her ankle mid season putting an early end to her senior soccer season.
For a single sport athlete, an injury such as breaking an ankle isn’t major, it is a 6 week recovery and even more time to recover when waiting for the season to come back around. But for an athlete like Podeszwa, a multisport one, this can be detrimental. It gives you the standard injury recovery time, but only a short time in between off season in one sport and the start of another. Even more inconvenient was the timing of it all, senior year, the last season you get to play high school sports with the people you’ve grown up with. For many unlucky athletes this can be a major setback or even a career ender, but not for Emilia Podeszwa.
During her road to recovery it was a running countdown and race to being fully healthy and ready for the start of the softball season. Podeszwa faced a lot of struggle during her recovery not only physically but mentally. “It was really draining not being able to play sports but having to watch everyone else get to.” Podeszwa made a speedy recovery perfectly in time for the softball season. Don’t be fooled, it wasn’t magic and it definitely didn’t happen overnight. Podeszwa was in the gym almost every day after school following a routine that focused on rebuilding the strength in her ankle, and also following the pre-season softball workouts. Not only was she recovering from an injury but she was also working towards being in mint condition for her senior season.
Coaches must have seen her dedication for the sport translated through how she plays and trains. Podeszwa grew up playing Waterford softball from the age of eight :“I always want to win and I love doing it…I have grown up around baseball and I feel like it’s a part of who I am now.” Podeszwa grew up surrounded by athletes. Her older sister, Sophia Podeszwa, a former Uconn track runner, her older brother, Connor Podeszwa, 2020 Gatorade player of the year and college baseball player, her father, Christopher Podeszwa, former overseas baseball player and now uconn baseball assistant coach. Athleticism runs in her blood and so does the passion to be a great athlete.
She likes to hold herself accountable and play to her best potential in order to also elevate her team as a captain. “I feel bad because I feel like I am letting my teammates down when I mess up, and I really have to remind myself I can’t control what just happened but I can do better.”
She follows the example of leadership that was set by the seniors before her, the seniors that she had known since she was eight years old. “I was amazed by them and wanted to be just like them…When I finally got to the high school and could play with them they had taught me so much.” Now Podeszwa gets to do the same for the underclassmen that look up to her as a player and a person.
Isabel Henry: “Emilia has truly been a mentor to everyone on the team and a key player to the waterford softball success. She means so much to the program and to me as a person. She will be extremely missed when she goes off to do great things at Binghamton”
While Podeszwa’s senior year and season is coming to an end, her softball career is truly just beginning. She will be playing D1 softball at Binghamton University in New York.
