Pushing Through The Pain: How injury forces a shift in perspective

“I just love soccer,” the phrase flowed out of sophomore midfielder Malia Gregorios’s mouth seamlessly with a small smile and a shrug. Despite facing two severe concussions and a seemingly endless recovery, she returns to the field year after year — a choice that many non-athletes might question and a story that professionals in sports medicine manage daily. 

In the past 13 years, beginning with the formation of the national youth sports health and safety institute in 2013, schools have dedicated a surge of energy and research to ensure the health and safety of student athletes. While being informed and educated on importance of caring for their bodies, a similar mantra resides in the minds of high school athletes: push through the pain. The phrase is held in the hearts of students but leaves those in the margins of athletics wondering why they continue to push through discomfort for the sake of a sport.  

From the medical side of things, the line is clear. If a player is in pain or discomfort either consistently or following a cause of injury, they need to talk to medical professional. To ensure player safety, many schools have hired athletic trainers (ATs) such as Eastside Catholic’s Kristen Kracht.

“Depending on the injury I’ll do an evaluation and if it seems more like an injury that could be harmful to play through like a muscle strain or ligament tear, they are taken out of play and I have an I jury report to send out to coaches every day,” explained Kracht about her job.

One player Eastside’s AT is very familiar with, is Malia Gregorios. Quick and competitive on the field, in the spring of 2022 while playing for Crossfire Soccer Club, Gregorios stepped up to defend the ball, an action that would change her life for the next two years — and potentially even longer. While running up to cover the other club’s striker, the young upshot was hit smack dab in the head with the ball. After this sudden and strong hit, Gregorios chose to stay on the field and “play through the pain” the rest of the game, assuring herself that she would be fine and the tingling in her head was just a tickle on the brain and not a traumatic injury.

“I was a little buzzed you know, but I chose to stay in the game after, which wasn’t a great thing,” Three days later, she was diagnosed with a concussion that left her with daily migraines and forced her to be out of school often, as well as take a break from soccer.

“I got migraines a lot after, but I realized that was the only symptom that kept occurring. I knew at that point that I had to take a break from soccer and get help. Normally concussion patients have other symptoms like light sensitivity and dizziness, but I just kept getting horrible headaches. I missed a lot of school and had to sit in the dark in my room a lot which was really boring, but my doctor suggested since the headaches were my only consistent symptoms [months later], that I should get my vision checked. We found that I had sustained damage to my eyes and that I couldn’t diverge my eyes anymore,” recounted Gregorios.

After enduring vision therapy and countless doctors’ appointments, Gregorios returned to Eastside and after being cleared by Kirsten Kracht and her doctors, Gregorios returned to the field and was advised to not push herself too hard.

 “It was a while after [the first concussion] and I just really wanted to get back to playing soccer, so my doctors were like yeah ok and cleared me for the high school season,” Despite the struggles that came with playing and the constant pressure on her temple, the midfielder was determined to stick with the game. The freshman midfielder made varsity and began to make a name for herself on the field.

Unable to refrain from giving her all, the midfielder jumped back into the game she loved with full force. Unfortunately, that full force met her head just a month into the season when she stumbled on the field.

“I got pushed over and whacked the back of my head on the turf. Right when that happened, I knew I probably had another one. My head was throbbing again.”

This time, the player had learned her lesson, leaving the field and game behind. Within days, Gregorio was restricted to her old routine. Vision therapy and skipping school for appointments and migraines once again became the norm, but she was determined to recover.

“I did all my exercises, I know some injured players don’t take them as seriously, but I knew they were helping me get back to playing,” shared the devout athlete.

When a player lives and breathes their sport, it’s hard to keep them away. After successfully completing multiple physicals and scans Gregorios was tentatively cleared to play soccer for the fall of her sophomore year. Even with hesitation from her parents, vision issues, and consistent headaches, the player returned to the field once more.

“[The 2023 season] went pretty well. I had to do less running or sit out on running at practice because my head would hurt but other than that it was just a normal season. I just kept going back to soccer because I really loved it,” shared the sophomore whose love for soccer continues to shine through despite still being unable to play club and undergoing biotherapy and vision therapy.

While Gregorios was able to make a comeback, that’s not the case for every player.

Recent USC graduate Hayden Miller grew up in a soccer household. With a father who played Division 1, Miller was raised to be a competitive athlete.

“My dad played soccer in college at a high level. He played soccer and coached my teams when I was little. I would play with him in the yard, and I loved it so I just stuck with it,” shared Miller.

In eighth grade while playing for a competitive club team, Miller planted his foot wrong midgame, a small mistake that would that would cost him his future in soccer. He suffered a torn ACL and meniscus. Despite being educated on the importance of recovery, Miller returned to play the next season in ninth grade in hopes of going D1. With an already weakened knee, the striker again planted his foot wrong, and it was deja vu all over again. Miller had once again torn his ACL and meniscus.

At this point, Hayden made the difficult decision to truly focus on recovery, physical therapy, and other activities in hopes of being able to one day play soccer for fun. He hung up his cleats next to his D1 dreams.

Even after two injuries, Miller planned on returning to the field his senior year, but the season was cut short due to COVID. While attending USC, he played on a semi-pro team for fun, but it didn’t stay fun for long. After two injuries to his left knee, Miller changed some of his skillset to work in favor of his right left getting the brunt of the pressure. Unfortunately that pressure added up and led to Miller tearing his ACL for a heart-wrenching third time.

Both Miller and Gregorios faced injuries that may turn a person of less grit and determination away, but high school athletes hold a level of endurance and passion for their sport like no other. Balancing wanting to help their teams for different tournaments and games to just wanting to return for the love of their sport, they both pushed through discomfort, unwilling to quit.

“Some people are really willing to put in that work and say I’m going to take this time out of my day and do my exercises,” shared Kracht. The AT also noted that this isn’t common in all athletes especially when it comes to rehab or even prevention of an injury, it takes a special kind of dedication to keep pushing through.

While both Miller and Gregorios played soccer, situations like theirs happen across all sports. The most common being those with repetitive motion or multisport athletes.

“Part of prevention is avoiding ‘overuse’ which is something I see a lot. People playing multiple sports at the same time or going from one season sport to another one. Injuries that build up over time due to overuse are very common in sports like baseball, tennis, and even cross country and track with all the repetitive motion,” commented Kracht.

As high school students, it can be hard for medical professionals to stress the importance of caring for their bodies over their sport in a way that sticks. Sometimes it helps to hear from a student’s perspective. Both athletes were asked what they would do differently in terms of their injuries and recovery.

“I would have left the field that first game when I got concussed. I think trying to push through and staying in the game caused the majority of my issues,” shared Gregorios.

“I would have rehabbed better, after that first injury, but I was in middle school. I didn’t really know,” added Miller.

Gregorios and Miller both faced trials and tribulations beyond belief when it came to their sport, yet, in the safest way possible, they continued to push through the pain in hopes of one last shot.