By Tayla Creighton
It was nearly halfway through the second half when Emily Freeman went down. She was playing for her club team during her junior year at a tournament in South Carolina. What should have been any other ordinary soccer game, changed Emily’s life. While dominating the midfield, Emily got tangled in a cluster of legs, cleats, and shin guards. An immense amount of pain caused her to black out, leaving her with no recollection. As she lay on the field in an agonizing daze, the bright sun beamed in her eyes. She tore her ACL. It was all overwhelming.
“When I first got hurt I couldn’t really think past the pain. Everything was just a blur, it happened so fast,” she reflected.
She squeezed her coaches hand trying to rid herself of the agony. In that moment, Emily could not take her mind off of the pain and couldn’t fathom the long road to recovery she was about to endure. This journey included multiple surgeries, physical therapy, mental challenges, and many lessons to be learned. Once she came down from the state of shock that she was in, she came to the realization that she was seriously injured. She worried about how long she would be about of the game and the toll it would take on her everyday life.
“The hardest part was knowing how long it would take. Everyone said it would be hard and I would come back stronger, but no one ever said how much of a toll it would take on me mentally,” she said.
Before the accident, much of Emily’s time was taken up by soccer. Whether it was club soccer practices, high school soccer, games on the weekends, tournaments, pasta dinners, or other team activities, her life revolved around soccer and started to from a very young age. She met a lot of her friends through soccer and made many memories. While in recovery, her inability to play left a huge void in her life.
“Aside from being bored,” she joked, “I learned that not everything was about soccer. I learned more about people and interacting with them. And more importantly, I realized that I didn’t appreciate the little things. I feel like my injury gave me an opportunity to see the world in a whole new light.”
Without soccer taking up her time, she came to the realization that she had so much more to offer than just being a great soccer player. The injury gave her time to understand her role as a friend, family member, and student, not just number 20 on the field.
Now, Emily focuses on taking each day at a time and making the most of everything thrown her way. A lot of good has came out of this very painful injury. This is an indicator of Emily’s extremely positive attitude. Her friends describe her as the one who always sees the silver lining in any situation. She even helps others see the brighter side of things too. And even when her character was challenged, it proved to stand up to the test.
Ultimately, Emily’s injury taught her lessons that reassured her of what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. After tearing her ACL, Emily’s childhood dream of wanting to help people became even more focused. Her own experience with needing help and learning how to ask for it made her realize that she wanted to make life easier for others too. She began to plan her future with this goal in mind.
Emily plans on attending the University of New Hampshire next year to pursue a major in kinesthesiology, (a medical field that revolves around how joints and muscles work). Science has always been her favorite subject and she hopes to explore the human body in more depth. One day she hopes to be a physical therapist, using both her knowledge about anatomy and her will to help people.
Emily strives to be happy and enjoy the little things in life. Helping people and changing lives, even in the littlest of ways, brings her joy. Above all, she values kindness. Emily’s injury serves as a constant reminder of how far she has come and how much she has changed throughout her high school career. It has given her a whole new outlook on life. Now she knows how quickly life can change. She no longer takes anything for granted, especially her health. She knows that there is too much to enjoy about life to get bogged down by the negative things. Little things roll off her shoulders a little easier these days.