"No athlete is truly tested until they’ve stared an injury in the face and came out on the other side stronger than ever”
Anonymous
My Story and Inspiration
My background
Hi! My name is Gwen and I’m currently a high school student. I play soccer as a center-back. I also play softball and I’m a pitcher. I fell in love with these sports at a young age and have played both sports competitively for as long as I can remember.
That was until a summer soccer league game for my high school team in the middle of July, 2023. It was just like every other game until about five minutes in. A loose ball had gotten through our midfield line so I had to go clean it up before the opposing player could dribble directly at our goal. We arrived at the ball at the same time. This was a tackle that I had made thousands of times throughout my years of soccer. However, as I went to get the ball, I was changing direction, lost my footing, and got trucked by the other girl. Before I hit the ground I heard the one thing no athlete ever wanted to hear; I heard the dreaded, “Pop.” I subconsciously knew what this meant, but I refused to even let my mind go there. Of course, I have been taken down many times in soccer, which always hurts, but this was a type of pain that I had never felt before.
This single moment put my entire life on pause. It took about a week and a half to find out I had torn my ACL and meniscus and would not be able to take the field again for at least 9 months. At this moment, nothing felt real. Not the tears streaming down my face through my silent cry or my doctor patting me on the back telling me, “I would be okay,” and, “You’re strong enough to get through this.” My mind was empty as I crutched out of the consulting room and stood in the waiting room watching my parents schedule my surgery. This simply couldn’t be happening.
I remember going home that day and simply googling, “athlete’s ACL recovery,” in hopes of seeing someone’s journey through their recovery. What I found was a college athlete's 20-minute recovery vlog that followed her through PT sessions, her working out and then her eventual return to sports. Those 20 minutes showed me that it was possible to get through this, but not how to persevere through the new emotions that I was feeling.
At that moment, I decided that I would share the mental aspects of my recovery and how I learned to overcome them. As I’m writing this right now, I am about 2 months post-operation. I plan to publish content that narrates my journey from day 1 after surgery to my return to sports. I hope that “Cleats Off,” will become a community for all athletes. I hope that my fellow injured athletes can find support through our similar experience. But in general, I hope that all athletes can find a home here because having strong mental health on and off the field might be the most important aspect of sports.
Reach Out!
If there is something specific you would like me to write a post on, email me and let me know! It can be anything from sports injuries to recovery questions! Looking forward to hearing from you guys!
Disclaimer!
I am not providing any medical advice or consultation on this page. Nothing that I write is coming from a medical professional. Talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about your personal health.