MORE THAN A TEAM
Emmy Steele celebrates the Greyhounds’ 2025 GLVC championship with Abbey Brown ’28.
“Emmy is a constant reminder to go out and play the game we love with passion and joy,” said Shelby Cook ’26 (Elementary Education). “Having Emmy on our team has given us a new purpose and something to play for that is bigger than ourselves.” During the Greyhounds’ run at the GLVC Tournament in 2025, Steele was in constant communication with the team, and when the Hounds reached the championship game—a game won by UIndy—she even made a surprise appearance to cheer on her team in person. “I believe that being able to talk back and forth with Emmy during the tournament is truly what kept us hungry and fighting every game,” said Cook. “Seeing her at the championship game probably meant more to me than it did to her.”
When UIndy head coach Melissa Frost and her softball team were partnered with 13-year-old Indianapolis native Emmy Steele through Team IMPACT, they knew they were gaining a new teammate. What they didn’t know at the time was just how much of an impact that new teammate was going to have on the Greyhounds. Team IMPACT is a national nonprofit organization that matches children facing serious illness or disability with college athletic teams across the country. Steele has a condition called Wiedemann-Steiner Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. Even as Steele confronts daily challenges that most people of any age don’t have to think about, to say nothing of a middle schooler, she remains a ray of sunshine for the entire Greyhounds’ softball team.
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UNIVERSITY OF INDIANAPOLIS
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