by Lydia
(South Carolina)
I am 16 years old and a junior in high school. Playing Division 1 college soccer has been my dream since I was very young. I first tore my ACL when I was in the 9th grade during a pre-season tournament for a Club team that I played on. Having done this at the beginning of the season, meant that I would miss the entire Club season but I may get to play some of high school ball. Rehab was long and very painful but I wanted to get through it so that I could get back to what I love the most. I rehabed very well and was able to play some of the end of high school season. I worked really hard to get back in shape and it payed off!!! I really wanted to step my game up because I felt with having to miss the entire Club season, that I was somewhat behind schedule. I did some research and found a school in Florida called the IMG Sports Academy and I went for the whole summer to train. It was awesome and now I felt like I was back where I needed to be. My family made a huge sacrifice and allowed me to go and live there in the fall because I loved it so much. We trained five days a week and play games on the weekends. I had really improved my game since my injury and was comfortable where I was as a player to live out my dream. Our regular season had come to an end and now we were beginning to train for up coming college showcase tournaments. At practice I went to turn because a player was getting past me and when I pivoted my right leg stayed put but my body kept going and I heard it pop three times just like the first one. I knew I had torn my ACL again!!! After the MRI confirmed that I had torn my right knee I cried a lot and sometimes felt like just giving up but I couldn't give up what I had worked so hard for. I had the surgery on November 18, 2008 and began my rehab. It was very hard this time because my parents made me come home for a semester so that meant having to leave the place that I loved. All went well with the rehab and then my parents let me go back to IMG in June of 2009. I
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