While in the twilight of her basketball-playing days at Simon Fraser University, Emma Kramer is making a difference for fellow student-athletes.
The Surrey-raised guard is in her senior year as a Red Leaf, and is shooting to make the playoffs with the women’s team as their season draws to a close in a few weeks.
Off the court, she’s now chair of the NCAA Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), following an election in San Antonio in mid-January. From the only NCAA school in Canada, the Sullivan Heights graduate (class of 2018) was also chosen as one of the two Division II student-athlete representatives on the organization’s Management Council.
For Kramer, it’s a further leap into the world of student-athlete politics, promotion and health care. She’s been part of SFU’s student-athletic advisory committee since her second year at SFU, and part of the national SAAC for a little over a year now, as a committee member. Now she’s in the leadership role.
“I first got involved in this because I wanted to more involved in the community at SFU and do more volunteering work,” Kramer explained. “Then at the national level, a friend recommended that I get into it. I wasn’t sure what the job involved, but I knew I wanted to work with more people dedicated to bettering the student-athlete experience at a higher level, at all (NCAA) institutions, not just SFU.
“Now getting chair,” Kramer continued, “I can really help put student-athlete voices to the very top and make sure that we’re heard by the administration of the entire NCAA Division II, and represent all athletes but especially the ones from our neck of the woods, because in Canada we tend to get overlooked because we’re not in the United States.”
In a one-year term as chair of the national SAAC, Kramer’s two primary areas of concern are the mental-health needs of student-athletes and their transition out of the student-athlete world, when the time comes.
As a senior at SFU, that transition is coming for Kramer, and it’s often a daunting one for her and others in that position.
“A lot of times you’ll finish your sport on a random Tuesday in March, and then that’s it, you’re done being a student-athlete,” she elaborated. “It’s a huge identity change, and we’ve found that a lot of people were really struggling with that, with very little support, so it’s been a goal of the national SAAC to put in supports to help those student-athletes with that transition of going out into the world or just being students and losing a key part of their identity.”
Kramer said she jokes that she’s too honest to make politics a career, but it could be in the cards one day, judging by her drive and determination to make a difference.
“I’m still on the fence of whether I want to stay in athletics on the administration side or if I want to pursue a career in my degree (criminology/psychology),” she revealed. “I’m very much keeping my options open and just enjoying the opportunities I have right now without worrying too much about what I’m going to do in the next couple of years and beyond that.”
Theresa Hanson, SFU Senior Director of Athletics and Recreation, said she’s “so proud” of Kramer and applauds her enthusiasm and determination to make a difference for student-athletes. “I have no doubt she will represent Simon Fraser, GNAC and NCAA Division II with pride, professionalism and honour,” Hanson said in a news release.
Kramer is the daughter of Lani Kramer (nee Kalutycz), who also played basketball at SFU and later became an assistant coach of the women’s team under Bruce Langford, who continues to coach there.
“My mom coached me in high school and in my youth, but she was a coach at SFU when I was very young, and never coached me at this level,” Kramer recalled. “I was always around the team as a young girl, and a lot of the players back then were my babysitters, stuff like that. I’ve known coach Langford since I was very little, so it’s all a very cool experience.”
This week, the SFU women’s team is in Alaska for a pair of games (Jan. 26/28), followed by a return home to the Burnaby campus for games against Central Washington on Thursday, Feb. 2, and Northwest Nazarene (of Idaho) on Saturday, Feb. 4. For schedules and stats, visit athletics.sfu.ca/sports/womens-basketball.
“We have a very talented team,” Kramer noted, “and like everyone we’re still dealing with the break we had because of COVID. We couldn’t play for, like, a year there, so last year was definitely a tough one, getting back into playing. I think we’re still trying to figure out how to work well together, since we lost a couple of players that we had for a few years, and there’s a transition still going on. We’ve done pretty well this year. Our last league games are at the end of February, and the playoffs are after that, if we get into the top six teams, which we should be.”
The 2023 GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference) women’s basketball championships will be played at Bellingham’s Carver Gym from March 2-4, followed by NCAA regional championships and the title game April 1 in Dallas, Texas.
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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