Catching Up With… Norwalk’s Emma Oyomba

 

(Catching Up With… is a continuing series updating readers about the current statuses of former top FCIAC athletes)

By Dave Ruden

When I first decided to launch my own website, one of the repeated suggestions was a “Where are they now,” series. Readers love to know what the former high school athletes they followed are now doing.

Thus the seeds were planted for “Catching Up With…”

And deciding on the first person to profile, Emma Oyomba was the prefect candidate.

During my last year at The Stamford Advocate, Oyomba kept an insightful diary on my Overtime blog. She let readers follow her through her final year at Norwalk High School, and the process of deciding which of the two sports she excelled at — basketball and lacrosse — she might play in college, if she played any sport at all.

The diary, alas, never was completed as Oyomba got caught up in the many demands of being a senior.

And things have changed. Oyomba is no longer at Norwalk High, and I am no longer at The Advocate.

I had kept in touch with Oyomba until the start of last summer. I knew she was attending the University of Vermont — a school, ironically, she initially dismissed when it was first suggested to her. I also knew she had decided the demands of playing a sport were too time-consuming to her academic and extracurricular pursuits. She also last spring suffered a torn ACL for the second time in just over a year.

When I tracked her down last week, I was not surprised to hear that she was happy with her choices and excelling in school. I was slightly surprised she is looking into following a path similar to my own.

A political science major (as was I), Oyomba is working for Vermont’s student newspaper, the Cynic, as a sportswriter, photographer and videographer.

Oymoba sent me some samples of her work. If you read any of her postings on the Overtime blog, you knew they would be good.

“The sports part is easy,” Oyomba said. “I am a pretty good writer and I write a lot. The photography, I had never done it, and the video I had never done anything. It’s really cool how it all turned out and how quickly I caught on. To assume more roles at the paper and integrate myself more with the paper, I really like it.”

That Oyomba is a versatile contributor for The Cynic is no surprise at all. She is a person with many interests and curiosities. She mentioned perhaps doing a double major and double minor at Vermont, with economics and public communications other subjects Oyomba discussed.

“I really can’t choose,” she said. “I like filming and producing.”

Oyomba said her second knee injury last spring partially influenced her decision about sports.

“When I tore my ACL again it just didn’t seem like a smart move playing a sport in college and not trying what I’m doing,” Oyomba said. “I’m doing a lot of clubs, working, I thought it was the best thing to do. Not getting up at 5 a.m. and lifting.”

A year ago, Oyomba would have just finished her first day of basketball practice.

Does she miss her two sports?

“I miss being able to play,” she said. “I would have definitely done intramurals if I was able to play. I didn’t bring my shoes or stick. I am not fully rehabilitated. I’m not able to play but I do miss playing, and dinners with my teammates and having a group of girls to play with. I miss that aspect of it, and the competitiveness. I grew out of it I guess.”

Where will Oyomba be four years from now? She could be doing any of the activities she is currently involved with, and/or many more she has not yet even considered.

Right now she is a very skilled writer, photographer and videographer, assets a certain new website seeks.

And if her schedule permits and my power of persuasion works, the name Emma Oyomba will again be appearing on one of my digital platforms.