With the beginning of the school year comes the beginning of sports seasons, and student athletes are constantly complaining about how much conditioning they have to do at practices or complaining about even having practice at all. What some athletes don’t realize, however, is how lucky they are just to be able to play the game they love. While many students take sports for granted, senior Emma Comiskey is more than grateful to be able to lace up her cleats and step onto a soccer field this season. Comiskey has just recently recovered from a torn ACL, an unfortunate injury that has been preventing her from playing the sport she loves since before her freshman year began.
Since her return after three years as a spectator, Comiskey’s performance on the field is as if she never stepped off. Comiskey was able to begin practicing again with her team over the summer at Captain’s practices, and proved that she was back and better than ever during tryouts. During preseason Comiskey brought her A-game to every practice, scrimmage, and try-out session to earn herself a starting position for this season. During 1v1 games at tryouts, Emma showed she hadn’t lost any footskills during her time off by winning most of her matches and advancing to the highest level field. Since tryouts, Comiskey has helped her team tremendously during their normal season. The girls on the team can rely on Emma to constantly do her job and get the ball into the offensive end. She is able to make moves past defenders time and time again and set up plays that help the rest of her team on the field. Some of Comiskey’s several attributes are her quick footskills, speed, and ability to win 50/50 balls out of the air. She does not hesitate for a second to go to the ball, thus allowing her team to gain possession and help move the ball away from opposing players and up the field toward the opposing team’s goal.
Unfortunately, Comiskey’s talent will only be displayed for this one year, due to her ACL injury that prevented her from playing soccer during her freshman, sophomore, and junior year. Before her freshman year even began, Comiskey was playing in her first preseason scrimmage, when about ten minutes into the game she planted her foot and twisted it the wrong way. resulting in a torn ACL and the termination of Emma’s freshman soccer season. About a year after surgery, Emma began playing again and was met with the same misfortune when she went to receive a ball in the air and her knee gave out upon landing. This second injury was only a partial tear, so Comiskey continued to play soccer with her club team four months later. At a practice, Comiskey went to plant her foot for a shot and twisted her knee, tearing it once again. Her second surgery was only 18 months after her first.
Luckily, third time’s a charm, and Comiskey has recovered from this setback just in time to play the sport she loves for her senior year. One might think that any athlete undergoing this much malady in her athletic career would call it quits, but not Comiskey—there was no way she was going to let this stop her from getting back on the field. Comiskey said, “I think I kept coming back because, before I tore my ACL, soccer was literally my life. I played every day and I was on three teams at once sometimes. I didn’t know anything else.” The road to recovery wasn’t easy, however, as Comiskey had to sit out and watch her team for three years, and this was the first time she hadn’t played soccer since age five. Comiskey struggled to sit out and watch for so long, especially when the team wasn’t playing so well and she wanted desperately to help out. Helplessly on the sidelines, Comiskey wanted nothing more than to get up and play.
During Comiskey’s time out, she focused mostly on rehab. Her desire to play soccer again drove her to go to physical therapy all the time, in addition to training on her own to get back her footskills and get back in shape. Also, Comiskey’s injury meant that she had to give up club soccer, which had been a major part of her life, and she misses being able to play against girls from all over. However, Comiskey said, “I wouldn’t trade playing with the girls on the high school team for any club team.” Besides soccer, Emma is involved in Student Council, and has taken on the role as Student Council President this year, which is a major responsibility.
The Girls’ Varsity soccer team is lucky to have Comiskey back this season, and she finally has a shot to play the sport she loves at the Varsity level. Comiskey’s highlight of her time at high school so far is being back and playing soccer. Emma said, “It is the best feeling when Coach Erin comes up to me before the game and tells me that I’m starting up top and to get fired up. I think this season is going to turn out great. Everyone is determined to make it to tournament and we will all do whatever it takes to get there.” Comiskey and the rest of her team definitely have the right mentality to succeed this season, and Emma returnig to the field is a key contribution that will be needed to make this season a successful one.
