How Embry used YouTube, willpower to become phenom
The rim bends left, the result of an Oklahoma wind that once toppled the goal anchored to the cracked driveway only by a pile of blocks.
Humble though it might be, this is the site of a family battleground, a basketball classroom.
Chantae Embry knows that better than anyone. She’s shot there in the blowing snow and in the scorching heat. She’s been forced to tears in one-onone matches there with her older brother.
But to Embry, the modest driveway goal is an oasis.
“Even if I’m having a bad day, that’s my one comfort,” Embry said.
There, she’s become the state’s next high school superstar.
A 6-foot-2 freshman at Prague High School unknown to most, Embry has captured the state’s attention after just 17 games in a small community northeast of Shawnee.
Videos have circulated on social media. Coaches plan off-night trips just to watch a player regarded as one of the nation’s top recruits in the 2021 class, a 15-year-old committed to Oklahoma State.
The buzz is legit. She can make defenders fall to their backs with a crossover dribble, then spin immediately to the basket. She can attack in the low post. She can shoot the 3-pointer, play defense and rebound.
“What we’re seeing right now is only the tip of the iceberg in what this girl has in her and is going to be,” veteran Prague coach Benny Burnett said.
But getting to this point is what makes Embry that more impressive.
She’s the youngest of five siblings with a single mom. All six are crammed in a two-bedroom home. Money is tight and some
crucial skill camps are unaffordable.
Yet, Embry has thrived in her own way. YouTube, the broke-down goal in her driveway and willpower have shaped a special player.
“That’s just my way out,” Embry said. “That’s going to help me in the long run and helping my family settle down and seeing us succeed in life.”
Lessons through YouTube
Tucked in the back corner of the house, Chantae Embry sat in bed focused on her phone’s screen. She was studying and planning, not just watching highlights of LeBron James and Maya Moore.
LeBron and Moore are unique. His ballhandling and forcefulness. Her leadership and passion.
Embry wants to be a combination of both.
Embry visualizes her workout for the next day, focusing on a move from LeBron or Moore to master. She’ll work on it in practice. If necessary, she’ll use the goals at the city park with more space.
“I just work hard even if I can’t afford everything else,” Embry said.
Since picking up a basketball in second grade, Embry has sought ways to improve on her own.
Back then, she was already bigger than most girls.
Opponents asked if she drove the bus. Some asked if she was the coach. Despite that size advantage, she worked on the goals she could find in Boley, a no-stoplight community east of Prague.
A few year later, she started building a reputation. She shut down a 6-foot foe at AAU nationals as a fourth grader. In fifth and seventh grade, Embry’s team won national titles.
Sixth grade, though, was still her biggest year. OSU coaches took notice. Even though, she had not been to a camp, she could not be ignored. Now-former OSU assistant Rebecca Kates-Taylor began recruiting Embry. An offer was extended in the seventh grade.
Since then, she’s been labeled as the nation’s top recruit. Letters have come from national powerhouse UConn and other places.
“It’s a little exciting and a little overwhelming,” Rhonda Embry, Chantae’s mom, said. “She’s so humble. It doesn’t bother her, but it makes me nervous.”
‘Ride or dies’
Rhonda Embry only wants to talk about the next night and beyond.
Sitting side by side in a room littered with children’s toys, Rhonda and Chantae build excitement for the basketball game. Rhonda can’t wait to see what’s in store.
Those games help clear the family’s mind of their struggle.
“When you see her out there fighting, she’s fighting for other reasons,” Rhonda said. “I’m amazed at her strength. All of my kids have that strength.”
Chantae’s father left not long after she was born, leaving Rhonda to tend to her five children.
She now runs an in-home day care that occupies the front room of the jam-packed home they moved into five years ago.
Montrell, 25, Darnell, 23, and Ray, 17, all share a room. Cherelle, 24, stays in the living room.
Chantae and Rhonda share the master bedroom, sharing a bed and bathroom.
“We’re basically ride (together) or dies (together),” Chantae said. “Through thick or thin wherever we go. It’s not even like a mother-daughter relationship. It’s like a best friend. I don’t keep anything from her.”
It’s hard to live in little space for a teenage basketball star who has never had her own room.
“It is overwhelming and frustrating because you want them to have more,” Rhonda said. “With limited income, we’re just trying to make it. We’re just praying, praying, praying and working hard, working hard, working hard. We’re just hoping God opens a window someday.”
For Chantae, it all starts with basketball.
She’s started on a path to a better life that began with the bent goal in the cracked driveway and builds with each basketball goal she comes near.
“I’m grateful for everything that I’ve been given,” Chantae said. “I know one day God will bless us with something bigger and I can share my story with other people and help other people. I’m not going to be mad about it. I’m just going to be grateful for what I have.”