Emma King with some of the McCracken County players and coaches.
Coaches Scott Sivills of McCracken County and Jamie Vernon of Taylor County knew someone from Fellowship of Christian Athletes would be at Bullitt East to visit with their teams before they played in the Queen of the Commonwealth last week at Bullitt East High School.
However, neither coach was expecting it to be Emma King, the former Lincoln County High School standout who is now a starter for Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy.
“I was surprised big time. I knew we had a FCA speaker and I was in the gym and one of the assistant coaches said, ‘Emma King of Kentucky is going to be our speaker.’ I was sprinting up there to hear her,” Sivills said.
“She had a very good message to our girls about perseverance and dedication. She said no matter how things looked to keep working hard because she put in the work, didn’t play very much her first four years and all of a sudden she is playing and starting. It was really good to hear her. She was a major encouragement to our kids.”
Vernon said hearing from King was “special” to her and her team because before King started her UK career she came to Taylor County to speak to the girls basketball team.
“These girls are now juniors and seniors and it was just a special time for us,” Vernon said. “It was a complete surprise, though. We knew we were having a FCA devotion but had no idea it was Emma King coming to see us.”
Former UK softball player Jaci Babbs is the FCA representative for UK women’s sports and set up King’s visit after being contacted by Bullitt East coach Chris Stallings, the 16-team tourney organizer. She reached out to King, who had played in the tournament during her high school career, and the UK fifth-year senior made the trip to Mt. Washington to talk to each team separately before McCracken beat Taylor 56-38.
Sivills is a big believer in FCA and even though he never coached against King in high school, he remembered how good a player she was.
“Emma spent about 10 minutes with our girls and that kind of helped us kind of relax before the first game of the tournament. It was awesome seeing somebody almost their age speak to them,” Sivills said. “Plus, me having a couple of future college athletes (Claire Johnson and Mikee Buchanan), it was good for them to hear her perspective.”
Vernon said her girls “loved” hearing from a role model they look up to.
“They got the special moment of seeing her when they were younger and now she is starting at Kentucky and that is special,” the Taylor coach said.
Sivills said his team had an “incredible response” to King’s message and applauded her comments. They took a team picture with her to use on social media to show their appreciation for her message.
“We are very involved in FCA. At McCracken we have someone that comes and spends her entire year with our kids and speaks to them once a week,” the McCracken coach said. “FCA for me personally is very important for the spirit of teamwork and handling adversity.
“There are so many lessons you can learn from sports and basketball. Through FCA we have had two players commit their lives to Christ. We are a gigantic believer in what they do, so it was huge to have someone like Emma King take time to share her message with our players and I really appreciate what she did.”
One Response
The FCA is a fine way to connect, in this and to the next Place!