We don’t know who’s cuter: Emilee or her nephew!Â
Campus Profile: Emilee Armbruster
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
Grade: Junior
Major: Early Childhood Education
Activities on Campus: Ignition Women’s Ultimate Frisbee (President and Captain) and Montessori Club
For those who don’t know, can you describe Ultimate Frisbee?
It’s a fast paced sport that involves some of the best qualities of other sports like cutting, defense, quickness, and endurance. It’s mainly played outdoors, on a field about the size of a soccer field. It is a non-contact sport and focuses on self-officiating at most levels. This means there is no referee at our games so we call our own fouls and other calls. The main objective of the game is to move the disc down the field to score (one point). You pass it down the field and get open but, once you catch the disc, you can’t run with it.
A great thing about ultimate is a rule called spirit of the game. It focuses on sportsmanship and understanding that part of the game is having fun and respecting the skill of the other team you are playing.
What is something everyone should know about you?
I’m a very good baker. When I get really stressed or find myself with a lot of free time, I love to bake. I’ve baked cupcakes for grad parties, small cakes for weddings, birthday cakes, and I make a mean soufflĂ©. Next up, I want to tackle a crème brulee.Â
Also, nicknames are a big thing in ultimate. When I was starting out my freshman year we were practicing with some other girls and there were two Emilee/ys. So I was given the nickname Lanks. Now, if you’ve ever seen me you know it fits because I’m a 6 foot tall scrawny girl. Sometimes people don’t hear that it’s Lanks so sometimes I get Links or Legs as a nickname. It’s weird to have someone on the field call me Emilee.
Being President of a club sport is a large role. What is the most challenging part of being President of a club sport? What is the most enjoyable?
It can be a scary thought at times knowing that you’re in charge of the well-being of a club and it’s definitely more time consuming than you first think. There’s a lot of planning and behind the scenes work that goes on especially before a tournament.
The best part is seeing the growth in the program. In our third year we have 23 girls on the team, three captains, a head coach and an assistant coach. We’re traveling to at least four tournaments this spring semester and have big plans for the fall semester of next year. It’s amazing to see where we started with seven girls and look at how the hard work has paid off.
Outside of school and Ultimate, you also work at a bakery. What is your secret to managing your schedule?
Not sleeping enough, lots of coffee and not having a clean room (jk). Before this year, I was pretty unorganized and procrastinated a lot. I got everything done but the end of semesters were always really hard. This year, and specifically this semester, I’m trying to stay organized. I have to get my homework done early and Sundays are a super important day for that. As long as I get ahead on homework and follow my schedule I’m usually okay! Also sometimes it’s nice to just take a break for 20 minutes and do something that I want to do whether it’s call my mom, read a book, or watch an episode of Netflix.
What is your favorite memory with Ignition?
That’s a tough one; there are probably two in the running:
1. The culmination of our season is something called college series. It starts with conferences, if you seed high enough at the end of this tournament you win a bid to regionals and then nationals. Last year, we were playing OWU in the game to determine if you would be rank 4th or had a shot to place 2nd or 3rd. The men’s team had come over after their game finished to cheer us on because it was a close game where we had come back from behind. The sidelines in ultimate are very important and the energy that came from it was amazing having both our girls and the men there. We ended up losing, which was heart breaking, but to see everyone so focused on the game made playing so much better because we were fighting for every last point.
2. This year we won a tournament for the first time and that was really cool. It was a smaller tournament but as a second year team it was definitely a big deal. The last game was close so it was full of energy and the girls on the sideline were a huge help. We ended up winning on universe point, which basically meant it was a winner take all point. We took home a big bowl of candy as our trophy (it was around Halloween) and obviously had to take a selfie with it. That feeling was definitely one of the best.
If we asked the girls on the team to describe you in one sentence, what would they say?
I would hope that they would say I’m funny and have a great singing voice. They also might talk about my height because most of them are pretty short so I stand out a little bit. It would be nice if they said something nice about me but they’d probably say something sarcastic or witty since that’s how they are.
Can girls still join the team? How can they get more information?
As a young club, we are always looking to expand and are working on some pretty big plans for next year. If anyone is interested or has any questions they can just email me (armbrustere1@xavier.edu).