Emma Holecz a sophomore at the Morgan School, was named GameTimeCT Athlete of the Week Winner on April 25, 2025, for her 11 points (5 goals, 6 assists) during a lacrosse game against Haddam Killingworth.
“When I found out, I was very surprised because I kind of just do things for the benefit of the team, and I never really thought about getting nominated for something like that, especially because I am an underclassman. So, I just thought it was really cool to be recognized for all the hard work I put in,” said Holecz.
The voting was open to anyone for four days, and on the Friday of the week, it was announced on GameTimeCT’s Instagram.
Since a young age, lacrosse has always been a part of Holecz’s life. Her father, Jon, played Division l lacrosse at Providence College and has had a huge impact on her decision to play lacrosse. She has been playing since she was in first grade, when she played for the Lyme-Old Lyme Ticks travel team and also Clinton Lacrosse pups program.
10 years later, she now helps out on Sunday’s with that program, which is for 3-7 year olds. She started helping out in sixth grade since her dad was the president of the organization at the time and has been doing it since. Along with lacrosse, she has also been playing basketball and soccer since she was a little girl.
Though her father has guided her through her career, her late grandpa, who passed recently in December 2024, has also had a huge impact on her, and has been a huge supporter of her. “I always called him after every game, and he didn’t know much about lacrosse, but he would just get very excited for me, like the little successes and kind of able to just lift me up on things and motivate me,” Holecz said.
Last year, Holecz started as a freshman on the midfield, and had the second most amount of goals on the team with 39. Maeve Madura, a current freshman on the Wesleyan University lacrosse team and Morgan Alumni, had 84 goals last season. Holecz completed her freshman season with 17 assists as well and was named Second Team All Shoreline.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself in the beginning of this season, because I knew that we graduated a lot of goals. I put
pressure on myself to fill that void, which I know is not possible. But I knew that I have to be a positive player, and as the season went on, I focused more on assists as well.”
Other than being a standout lacrosse player and athlete, Holecz also excels in her academics and prioritizes doing well in school. So balancing school, athletics, and her social life is very important to her.
“I utilize my study hall a lot, which helps, but also out of school, I try to get my homework done. I’ve always been able to have a social life, but it definitely gets overwhelming because I hold myself to a really high standard when it comes to grades, but I have learned a lot about time management,” said Holecz.
In her free time she volunteers for an organization called Miracle League, where kids with special needs learn how to play different sports, particularly lacrosse. She helps out in East Lyme every Sunday afternoon, and has been doing it for a few years. “Miracle League has been so much fun because it’s kind of allowed me to be more of a teacher than a player and take a step back and focus on what’s really important about lacrosse. It brings me so much joy just to see the kids smiling and get the little success for scooping up a ground ball.”
Holecz is hoping to continue her lacrosse career after high school by playing lacrosse in college. She started her recruiting process around two years ago, by starting to look at different schools. She wants to go into a science major and planning on being an athletic trainer or physical therapist.
“Maeve Madura has been a really, really helpful person during the recruiting process because she’s gone through it. So, I sat down with Maeve at the beginning of the summer, and I took notes on what she was saying, and she has been very helpful,” she said.
Moving forward for the rest of the season, she is working toward her new goals and is continuing to improve her skills and experience with each game.
“I always set goals for myself at the beginning of the year, so my goal is to get 100 points this year and then 100 goals, which is the big stretch. But I’ve also been focusing a lot my whole high school career just being a more positive communicator, which has been something I’ve really worked on since middle school and that’s been a priority to me, because having good communication and good relationships with your teammates is very important,” she said.
Holecz has already made her goal of reaching 100 points(points and assists), during the Haddam Killingworth game on Thursday, May 1, and is only 26 goals away from 100 goals.
