Preseason 2010 - Day One Reflection

by Amanda Wojahn '12 from Centennial, Colorado (and returning to play after her second ACL surgery)

So its preseason time again and even though we’ve been through Case preseason before and countless others throughout high school, I think everyone is feeling the excitement and maybe a little angst. After last season’s successes and the goals we’ve set for ourselves and the team for the coming season I think everyone is especially ready to get back to playing and back to working hard. We spend all summer dreaming about getting back to soccer and training to get ready; so basically in the summer I think everyone’s only feeling the excitement. The funny thing about preseason is that it always manages to turn some of the excitement into anxiety and nerves. Recently I’ve been thinking about why we change like that. What I’ve gone through with my knee reminds me of how a lot of people treat preseason. There has been literally years of buildup to me getting back on the field and so much time spent in therapy and training, and a week before coming back to school I was feeling extremely nervous about what the doc was going to say, and what my play was going to be like, etc. It’s like I built it up so much in my head that I guess I was afraid that I could never reach the expectations I had been building up for the past year and a half. So here’s my realization…the one that it took me a year and a half to understand…that starting to play again, or preseason, or the beep test, or whatever it may be isn’t our ultimate goal, it only another part of the process. Same as each summer workout, same as each day spent in therapy, same as each game. I think it took me that long to see that because doctors and therapists always talk about returning to playing like you can mark a day on your calendar and on that day you’ll be totally back to normal. It’s not like we’re going to wake up one day and suddenly be ready. So I guess I just wanted to say that preseason is just part of the process, so whether you made the beep test or didn’t, or had a good practice or didn’t that it’s not end of the world, not even close. So I’ve made a little pact with myself to throw those silly expectations we subconsciously build up in our heads, make us feel anxious and nervous out the window, and just try to do my very best every day, every practice, every game, every time I touch the ball; because if being injured has taught me anything it’s that being able to play such a great game with such great teammates is truly a gift. Seriously, this is awesome, we get to go out everyday this week and play the game we all love for the whole day…what could be better?

Amanda (on far right) at last year's "Kicks for a Cause" game