By: Olivia Lester, Addy Houseman, Madi Blake

Who knew a senior injury could impact so many people.

Senior Joelle Young’s senior soccer season ended tragically. Her ACL tear impacted her team and coaches. She had a very stressful recovery, hoping to recover before her senior tennis season. Even today, she still fears playing and doing certain things. She learned many lessons from her tear that will forever stay with her. 

“It’s always a fear, there’s always a high chance of me tearing it again while playing. My physical therapist always tells me that there’s always one ball that’s not worth it to get, so it’s always in the back of my head. Sometimes I go for balls that I worry could’ve been a tear. I feel like tennis is way less scary than going back to soccer because if I went back, I’d be super scared all the time,” Young said.

Coach Daniel Appelbaum was highly affected by this injury too. He explains how heartbreaking it is to see any player get hurt, let alone a senior. Young’s tear was an extreme injury that none of the team expected or was ready for. With an injury happening senior year, it means the end of the career.

“I felt terrible, it’s never an enjoyable thing to see your varsity player get hurt her senior year. Especially with how it ended and the tear she had. It was her senior year, and seeing her career end fast was heartbreaking. She was an impact to our team, and it hurt us a lot,” Applebaum said. 

Sophomore Lila Thompson shares her experience of watching her teammate’s injury. She explains how worried she was about her. Her mind went to how scared she was for her friend, but also how the team would change. The team’s positions changed after this devastating injury.

“After Jo tore her ACL, my first reaction was to be worried about her and just hoped she was okay. I was also wondering how the rest of the season would go and how the positions would change,” Thompson said.

Senior McKenna Martin also shared her experience of watching it. Everyone had a different viewpoint on the injury. Martin was upset with the other team and the refs. Most of all, she worried about one of her best teammates.

“I was angry with the other team and started arguing with the refs, which made it end badly. I wanted the game to be done, and I was worrying about her on the sidelines. Jo meant a lot to this team, and it was definitely hard to play after what happened,” Martin said. 

Appelbaum explains that the team positions changed after the ACL tear. He describes how difficult it was to find a replacement for Young. She was a great teammate and player. Being a senior, she was also an amazing leader for the team.

“I don’t know if there was a replacement. She meant a lot to our team, and she was a leader. It took many people to replace her role for our team. She was an enjoyable and valuable player to us, so it was difficult to find someone,” Applebaum said. 

Young faces many problems both mentally and physically. Physically, her knee is still sore and hurts all the time. Mental challenges are the hardest part for her. She is disappointed that she is not where she once was. After an injury, there is usually a mental block for athletes, in fear of getting hurt again.

“I feel like recovery was hard physically and super painful and demanding, but it was harder mentally. You expect yourself to be at a place you’re not at, you always get disappointed, and you always want to be back. After being out for 9 months, everyone has a chance to get better, and it’s mentally tough. It’s discouraging to say the least. My knee is still sore even today, even after being ‘cleared’. It’s still a mental challenge having to tell myself that my body won’t be normal,” Young said. 

Martin shares her goal to win the game for Young. She explains how in the moment the whole team got more physical to win the game for her. Martin felt strong emotions towards the other players for what they did and how they did not care for Young. The entire team was trying to focus on Young and win for her. 

“I felt very frustrated playing after, and that probably affected how well I played, but in the moment, I did not really care. We were all pretty physical afterwards. We all said we were going to try to win the game for Joelle,” Martin said.