To participate in the sports they love, maintaining physical well-being is a constant priority for student-athletes. Thus, when an athlete suffers a sports injury, it can be a major setback.
Senior varsity quarterback Dylan Daniel is currently coping with this challenge after severely injuring his wrist in the second football game of the season. In an away game against Monterey, things started going wrong for Daniel when a play went sideways, and he decided to run the ball. After an attempted tackle, he found himself falling to the ground and his instincts kicked in.
“Without even thinking about it, I put my arms back,” Daniel said. “I think when I went down really hard … and landed on the ball.”
Moments after, he realized the severity of his injury.
“I just looked at my wrist and it was like a Z,” Daniel said. “I immediately knew.”
During volleyball practice, junior Are Makropoulos tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
“I was going up to hit a ball and on the last of my approach, my knee just gave out and I fell on the ground and I heard a pop,” Makropoulos said.
Unlike Daniel’s immediate realization of the damage, Makropoulos at first believed she had a minor knee injury.
“I … worked 40 hours a week after I got my ACL injury,” Makropoulos said.
Throughout her recovery process, Makropoulos believes her dad has been someone she could relate to.
“[My] dad’s been pretty good about supporting me because he also ruptured his patella,” Makropoulos said. “He’s gone through a knee injury, so he knows what it feels like.”
It was during a cross where I came out to punch the ball, but my left leg crashed against this other girl’s leg and she pushed it backwards
Senior Cynthia Rivera, a girls varsity soccer player and starting goalkeeper, suffered a knee injury. Their injury took place last season when they had a collision with an opponent.
“It was during a cross where I came out to punch the ball, but my left leg crashed against this other girl’s leg and she pushed it backwards,” Rivera said. “Nothing tore or popped, so it was just the … hyperextension.”
Rivera had to go through physical therapy sessions in order to strengthen their knee.
“[Physical therapy] was very tiring and very demanding,” Rivera said.
Daniel also struggled in his recovery process when he had to learn how to do daily tasks with an injured wrist.
“I had to learn how to do a lot of things with my left hand,” Daniel said.
I had to learn how to do a lot of things with my left hand
As leaders of their teams, both Rivera and Daniel’s injuries had major effects on overall team dynamics.
“My back-up had to come in,” Daniel said. “He’s a junior, and he’s never played on varsity before. … It was very scary for our team.”
Junior Sean Hickey played in place of Daniel and it was a change he had to get used to.
“Honestly, I was really nervous,” said junior Sean Hickey. “But once I got the first few plays, I was fine.”
Losing Daniel as a player was also tough due to the leadership he embodied on the field.
“He was like a big brother to me the last few years because we both play the same position and he’s a year older,” Hickey said.
Despite the many hardships that came with his injury, Daniel helps the team off the field.
“Every game he’s been on the sidelines,” Hickey said. “Whenever … I make a mistake, I come talk to him.”
“Every single time I’m on the court I feel like I’m not going to play 100%. Even right now, I can’t see myself moving side to side [and] playing my position the same ever again”
Rivera had a similar experience as their soccer team underwent the process of selecting a new keeper. Sophomore Felicity Corti, a teammate of Rivera’s, touched on what losing the starting goalkeeper was like.
“[All] the defenders [stepped] up because we didn’t have that … connection with our goalkeeper anymore,” Corti said.
After spending time away from their sport, a common fear athletes have is re-injury.
“Every single time I’m on the court I feel like I’m not going to play 100%. Even right now, I can’t see myself moving side to side [and] playing my position the same ever again,” Makropoulos said.
Daniel has similar fears about whether he will play in the last game of the season.
“I want to so bad,” Daniel said. “But if there was even a medium chance that I was going to re-break this, … there’s no …. way that losing my ability to use my right hand for the next three months, or getting myself arthritis in like 20 years, is worth one … football game.”
However, Rivera had a different view on her return, due to the demands of her position.
“I don’t fear getting injured, just because I know it’s a lot of contact and that’s just what the position brings,” Rivera said.
Sports injuries are an undesirable, but athletes must learn to bounce back from such challenges.
