Photo courtesy the Reider family

Editor’s note: “The College Experience” is a weekly first-person series about what it’s really like to be a college soccer player. 

After a not-so-great freshman season, I had at least learned what to expect for a full season at the college level. I knew I had to come in to sophomore year way more fit than the previous season, I had to come in way more technically sharp on the ball, and I had to come in way more hungry to win.

Knowing that I had to be more prepared, I began preparations early in the summer. I would go out early in the mornings to a local field while it was still cool out and do some running on my own. I also was able to play in some kick-around games that were taking place with my high-school team that were also just getting touches before their season. The closer it got to preseason, the more I pushed my body. I didn’t want to have a poor season like freshman year. I wanted to be in a position to help the team.

A week before reporting to preseason, I went out for one last morning workout before giving my body a week to rest up before a difficult upcoming preseason.  I warmed up for about ten minutes before setting off to finish a two-mile run in under 12 minutes. I finished the run as I had intended to do, did some core exercises and then went home to recover.

I hadn’t thought much of it while running, but something must have happened, because when I woke up the next day it felt like someone had hit the front of my leg with a baseball bat.

I tried stretching, icing and anything else one can think of to help it feel better, but to no avail. I figured it was just really sore from all of the running I had done previously, so I thought that maybe the week of rest I was about to take would help it recover in time for preseason.

I reported to campus after the week’s rest was over, but we didn’t have a scheduled practice for two days. I still felt something in my right quad, but figured since it was going away, it was just soreness so I still hadn’t done anything about it. We had meetings for those two days, and afterwards, we began to practice. On that first practice day, I began to warm up with a little bit of discomfort in my leg still, but it was bearable. Then, we began the fitness test like normal on the first day and when we had to sprint, I knew something still wasn’t right. I had to stop. I was nervous to stop. I hadn’t been injured like this before – to the point that I couldn’t run without a lot of pain, especially coming into preseason where the team roster spots were not guaranteed even for returning players.

The coach sent me to the athletic trainers. While I didn’t get any true medical tests done, they suggested it was a really bad quad muscle sprain — and it only got worse since I let it go in hopes that it would heal itself. It didn’t. I was shut down in preseason for over a week – set out only to do some physical therapy rehabilitation exercises. I hoped it would recover soon, and was still pushing to come back. I got an O.K. to try running again, but it still didn’t feel right. I was stuck doing rehab exercises for weeks to try and come back.

I was sidelined for all of preseason, including the scrimmages, and then ten games out of our 16-game season. It was rough watching from the stands when I could have been playing if I hadn’t gotten myself injured. I just had to be supportive from the sideline instead. We had slight improvement from the first season, getting more wins, but still not where we wanted to be; however, when I returned from my injury I felt a lot better and a lot more hungry to play and despite not getting much time sophomore year and the team not reaching the goals we wanted to, I knew that next season was going to be a lot better.

I learned from the injury that while pushing yourself to be better is important, you also have to take care of your body. Also, I learned to not get discouraged if you do get injured. I was nervous I would be cut or lose favor on the team, but luckily the coaching staff was very supportive. They were always checking in on me and once I was able to begin training again helped me get fit quickly so I could start contributing as soon as possible. I had never been sidelined with a significant injury like this one but I learned to never give up and to come back as a stronger player mentally as well as physically for my junior season.

Next time, I will share with you what I felt like when I finally saw improvement from the work I put in, despite being injured, and what a change in culture on a team can do to turn things around.