The story of Janelle is similar to my own. I started playing soccer at age 4 and was playing on a traveling competitive team by age 8. I played on a competitive club team as well as started on the varsity soccer team in high school all four years. You could say I follow the idea that I am a girl "who believes they are as capable and as tough as any boy."
The part of the article I find to be most intriguing is that "the nature of both [Janelle's] A.C.L. injuries — occurring, as they did, without contact and seemingly in the absence of any extraordinary circumstances — is the very thing that perplexes A.C.L. researchers. It takes 2,000 Newtons (a measure of force) to rip an A.C.L. apart. The mystery is why a knee works properly for many years — through game after game, practice after practice, long season after long season, for tens of thousands of repetitions — and then, without warning, a tiny but crucial component suddenly malfunctions." Prior to my first A.C.L. tear I was in the best shape of my life. It was the summer before my senior year in high school which is THE crucial recruiting time for any player interested in playing soccer in college. I was in outstanding shape and ready to be seen by college recruiters who I had already been in contact with. In July I was at a tournament in Colorado, chasing after a ball where I planted wrong and heard that infamous "snap". Every female soccer player fears the letters A-C-L and they all know (without their own experience) that the "snap" means trouble. This article spoke to me, and made me realize that I am not alone and that there are many other young women out there who have experienced, or will experience, the same injury I did.
I often get asked the question "If you knew then what you know now, would you have changed anything? Would you have quit playing soccer?" My answer is always the same "there is no way you could have stopped me from playing soccer". I do not regret my decision and feel that although I have been through quite a long road of knee injuries and surgeries over the past 12 years, I am a stronger person now and the path since my first A.C.L. injury has lead me to where I am today, and I am happy.
