Calvert grad White earns prestigious Mancuso Award at UF

FINDLAY – A student of the game.Emma White, a 2022 Calvert graduate, will be hitting another milestone Saturday.The University of Findlay senior is walking across the stage on May 2 with a degree in early childhood and special education and a minor in business.White will be teaching fourth grade next school year at New Riegel and has been approved as the head volleyball coach for the Blue Jackets.All at the age of 22. "I'm lucky I am getting to do what I love once I graduate," White said. "But it's been through hard work and getting the small details right to make it happen."It all started when 28-year veteran volleyball coach Wick Colchagoff spotted White at a match after his daughters graduated from Liberty-Benton."I knew I wanted her on my team with how well she played," Oilers coach Colchagoff said. "When she came to UF, we had a really good idea of her leadership style and athletic ability and her setting. We just refined those skills."Coming from Lori Rombach's coaching style to Colchagoff's style took White a little bit to adjust to."He can be pretty intimidating at first," White said. "On the other side, he cares about the players as people, where the volleyball side goes to the side and has conversations with the players as people, not just as student-athletes."Over her collegiate career, White started all matches except one due to injury. Even then, she played back setter her sophomore year against Northwood."The setter has to be a leader, much like the quarterback in football or point guard in basketball," said Colchagoff of White's leadership. "She has the respect of her teammates, and she was able to motivate them. Emma was able to lead by example."It is one of the reasons out of many that White received the highest athletic department award at UF on April 10th. She etched her name into history as the third volleyball player to receive the Mancuso Award.The award itself is named after Iggy Mancuso, who was a highly successful wrestling coach at UF from 1948-1958 and was a 1945 graduate of UF. It's given out based on the athlete's on and off the court performance, as well as academic achievement.. It is typically awarded to one male and one female athlete that is a senior or graduate student each year."I was shocked when I received it," White said. "I was nominated alongside national champions. It means a lot to me to win that award because it's a reflection of me as a person. I thought I was done on the court, but it was one last award to cap off my run here at UF."Throughout her time as an Oiler, she helped lead the team to winning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship for the volleyball program for the first time in Oilers history in 2024, when they defeated Ohio Dominican University 3-0.The Oilers made two runs to the NCAA Division II regional semifinals with White as the front setter.White ended her collegiate career in the UF record books with 5,139 assists, 195 serve aces and 1,151 digs.White made history when she was the first setter to earn G-MAC Player of the Year in conference history. She is a four-time first-team All-GMAC player, two-time NCAA DII All-American and earned Academic All-American with a 3.99 GPA."Off the court, Emma is an awesome person and she does a lot of community service," Colchagoff said. "She has coached our club volleyball that we run, she has run camps for me, and as good as she is on the court, she is an even better person off the court."Being able to work beside the setter coach, she has coached three teams in Oiler Attack Club and will be coaching 16-year-olds through Black Swamp in Tiffin this summer. "It feels good to have those four years of experience under my belt," White said. "Being able to run a program and building relationships with your players is important. Over the years, Colchagoff has made a big impact on my life. The last two years have been more of a teamwork relationship rather than a coach/athlete relationship."Coming from Romach's program at Calvert and Colchagoff's program at UF, as well as the current four-year coaching experience she has, White has an idea on how she wants to run the NR program.Rombach is who she credits with setting the standard."She has shaped me into the player and person I am today," White said. "It has been great working with her on certain things and I see her as more of a mentor. She has been guiding me in the high school realm and what I need to do and learn to do."Reflecting back, Rombach came in as coach for the Senecas when White was a freshman and that connection is something that White thinks about often."I thought of her when I came in my freshman year," White said. "Coming in as a first-year coach, we won't win state. But I think back to when it was coach Rombach's first year and how everything was new to her and everything was new to me when I was a freshman in high school. It helps me decide on what kind of coach I want to be."