Posted by By Kalle Masseo and Addison MacDonald
If you’re an avid follower of professional sports or a competitive athlete yourself, chances are you have heard of ACL injuries. One of the most common injuries in sports, ACL tears are feared for their long recovery time and the physical, mental, and emotional challenges that come with the exhausting rehab process. Although extremely prevalent in the world of professional sports, numerous high-level athletes in New Paltz High School have suffered from ACL injuries.
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the four major ligaments in the knee that connects your femur (thigh) to your tibia (shin). It is responsible for stabilizing the knee joint by preventing excessive forward or rotational movements, which is extremely important for sports that require explosive movements such as pivoting, changing direction, and jumping and landing. While these movements may be performed thousands of times on the regular, they can often place extreme stress on theis ligament, causing it to stretch and tear. Complete ACL tears require surgery and a 6-9 month long recovery to return to competitive play.
During the international break for the final 2024 EUROS qualifying round in late November, Spain was set to play Georgia. Spain was at the top of the group and was predicted to win the match (which they eventually did). Despite their already high ranking, coach Luis de la Fuente started one of their youngest star boys, Pablo Gavira, (better known as Gavi) on the field. 26 minutes into the match, after receiving a ball in the air and landing awkwardly, Gavi tore his ACL and also injured his lateral meniscus. He is expected to miss the rest of the 2023-2024 season, the 2024 EUROS, and 2024 Olympics. ACL tears have become increasingly frequent in professional men’s soccer and Gavi is just one of the most recent cases. Other players, for example Neymar, tore both his ACL and meniscus in mid-October, and Barcelona rival, Real Madrid lost their starting goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, and their starting center-back Eder Militao.
Despite ACL tears only recently becoming an issue in men’s soccer, it has been one of the most common and career altering injuries in women’s soccer. More recent studies have found that women are four to six times more likely to tear their ACL compared to men, according to the Journal of Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery in 2021. Statistically, 1 in 19 female soccer players will tear their ACL. In 2023 at the Fifa Women’s World Cup, 30 top women’s players missed the tournament because of ACL injuries. Tearing your ACL has become a norm for women’s sports, especially when little has been done to prevent tears. Additionally, many female athletes have torn their ACL multiple times, further shortening and negatively affecting their careers.
Without a doubt, ACL injuries are extremely prevalent in professional sports. But what about competitive high school athletes? We conducted interviews with New Paltz athletes who experienced ACL tears to learn more about their experience recovering from an extreme setback.
“It was on October 22nd, preseason basketball game… Non contact, I was going up for a lay up and my MCL detached from my tibia and my ACL was gone,” said Stephen Carr. Currently being 8 weeks out from surgery with another 6-8 of recovery to go, being forced to the sidelines for his senior season has been one of the hardest parts of recovery.
“Watching the sport I feel like I should be playing,” Carr explained. Playing in front of the fans and his classmates has been one of the things he’s missed the most while recovering.
“It’s hard sitting there thinking I can help out and contribute but I can’t. It’s not gonna happen” said Stephen thoughtfully. Despite multiple people telling him he’ll feel stronger physically and mentally after the recovery process, he hasn’t felt that yet in any way.
“Brady has helped me for sure and worked on my knee” said Carr when discussing how his coach and the school have helped him during the recovery process.
“My coach has been inclusive and still let me be a captain on the team” he further explained.
“It sucks,” Cole Mumford explained. Like Stephen, Cole tore his ACL while playing on September 2nd 2022. During the season’s first football game at Lourdes he caught a pass during the 2nd quarter.
“I felt my shin and my thigh go opposite ways and come back… it didn’t feel too terrible at first but I just knew something was wrong,” he said. When asked about the most difficult part of the recovery process, he stresses the mental aspect of it.
“Seeing your team play without you… it sucks.” However, he also emphasizes the importance of finding the positive in the experience.
“The physical work, it had to be done. If you just work hard you can get that part done.” “It is what it is,” Cole said, emphasizing the value of working hard to get where you used to be.
“The biggest help was Brady, he worked with me everyday to get better and felt like an extra physical therapist to me almost” explained Cole. Brady has been a significant part of recovery for both Cole and Stephen through this recovery process. Having an athletic trainer has become a significant part of athletics here at NPHS, especially when it comes to an injury as expensive and significant as an ACL tear. Cole thanks Brady, his teammates, and his coaches for supporting him in the process.
I, Addison, can relate to a lot of the experiences Cole and Stephen went through. During March of last year I tore my ACL while playing in a soccer tournament in North Carolina. Although there were certainly difficult physical aspects of rehabbing, I would say the toughest part of the process was the mental game. The transition from being extremely active, playing everyday to having trouble standing up was certainly an upsetting adjustment. It was also frustrating to watch my teammates play without being out there myself and having the opportunity to contribute to success. Like Stephen, I don’t feel that I have gotten stronger during the process. What I can say however, is that I have found new appreciation in small accomplishments. Whether it’s walking without a brace or learning to run for the first time, finding gratitude in even the tiniest steps of progress has helped me stay strong mentally during the process.
Although I, Kalle, haven’t torn my ACL, I understand the risks of playing high intensity sports, especially year round. The fear of possibly getting injured is always on my mind in every game I play. The reputation of an ACL tear has started to overshadow the joy of playing for many athletes, already infiltrating the mental aspect of many sports before the injury can ever possibly happen. Additionally, with the statistics for female athletes showing how likely the injury occurs makes the fear of tearing my ACL not that irrational.
This uptick in ACL injuries can be due to various reasons such as overtraining, muscle imbalances (especially between the quadriceps and hamstring), poor playing surfaces, and lack of knee injury prevention taken by youth sports organizations. However, despite its prevalence, little action is being taken to prevent ACL injuries. The most notable effort to address the ACL epidemic was taken by Nike, who designed a women’s cleat that prevents movements that can potentially cause ACL injuries. However, it’s important to understand that further action is required to protect athletes. Youth and professional systems need to be mindful of how training and games impact their athletes and they should tailor their training sessions to focus on strengthening the muscles around the knee.
Yet, despite the tough setback, athletes at New Paltz are resilient. Stephen plans on playing in college, Cole is currently in swim season, and both Addison and Kalle plan to play soccer in college. The reality of ACL tears illustrate an important lesson; the love for sports is strong. No matter the circumstances, either a previous injury or the fear of one, athletes will do whatever it takes to play the sports they love.
The Maroon 