Wherever in the pool opponents of the Parkway West water polo team go, chances are they will run into Steven Emde.
The junior is everywhere.
"Offensively, he's our primary two-meter. He's also a lockdown defender when we need him to be," Parkway West water polo coach Charlie Cutelli said. "He's a great two-way player in that sense, which I really, really like because I have other guys who are really just defensive-minded and other guys that are really offensive-minded and he can do both."
Following the Longhorns' 11-7 win over MICDS in Wednesday's Missouri Water Polo district tournament quarterfinals, Emde remains the area's second-leading scorer this season with 107 goals and 54 assists for 268 points. It comes on the heels of a 71-goal, 169-point sophomore campaign.
"He is night and day from last year," Cutelli said. "And he's as tall as he was last year, but he's added some size and bulkiness. He's definitely a lot more physical in the sense that he's able to go in and, if someone is guarding him, he's able to shrug them off and make a move with the ball. Last year, if someone bigger was on him, it was a struggle for him to get loose and turn and get a shot off."
Emde stands 6-foot-5 and says "I'm used to being tall, so I just do what I do." What he does is use it to his full advantage, especially on the defensive end where he is often asked to guard the other team's top player.
"He's so long," Cutelli said in admiration of Emde's massive wingspan. "A lot of other guys aren't as long as him, so when he's press-blocking and not fouling them or trying to front them, if someone tries to throw a pass over him, he can usually leap up and grab it."
Parkway West was a 10-15 team last season. This year, the Longhorns have improved by leaps and bounds to a 24-6 record, a Suburban West Conference title and a spot in the district tournament final four for the first time in 26 years.
"We learned how each other plays a lot better and we're getting more comfortable with the style," Emde said about why the team has improved so much this year.
Much of it, though, has to do with its leading scorer.
"He definitely has a lot more confidence," Cutelli said. "Last year he was a sophomore, so he was an underclassman even though he was one of the better players on the team. I think maybe another year of seasoning and him realizing we only have one senior on the varsity team, he has realized he is a leader."
And those leadership skills may not necessarily be recognizable to the casual observer.
"The other kids look up to him because he is a talented player and kind of our go-to guy," Cutelli said. "He's a definite lead by example kid. He's not loud. He doesn't yell at people and stuff. The nice thing is if you watch him in practice, he'll pull kids aside privately and not say anything out loud to them or anything like that."
Much of that likely comes from being a coach's son. Emde's father, Gregg, is the former head coach at Marquette.
"I would definitely agree. That's what I see," Cutelli said. "One day we were on the bus and my assistant coach asked me ‘So of all these kids, who do you think is gonna grow up and become a water polo coach?' Well, I have a feeling Steven will probably enter that arena at some point in his life."
Not only can Emde pick the brain of a good water polo coach at the dinner table and get good guidance from one of the area's up-and-coming young coaches in Cutelli, he also has come under the tutelage of another top mind in the game - veteran MICDS coach Don Casey - who coaches Emde on his Daisy Water Polo club team.
So, what has the 17-year-old learned from being around veteran coaches like Casey and his father?
"I've learned that you can never have a perfect game," Emde said with a wry smile. "As good as I may think I am, it's not perfect."
