Tryouts in Philly

A day or two after my MRI results, Katie and I learned of the tryouts in Philly beginning of December. Of course, we signed up and went.

Going into the first session, I was nervous-- not for how well I'd do, but as to whether my knee would be an issue. After about 5-10 mins, I realized I had nothing to worry about... the knee was pain-free and moving beautifully! As the two days went on, I gained more and more confidence and was excited to be out playing again!

There were 9 goalkeepers there, making the competition quite stiff. Only thing I could tell, was that my touch was slightly off and I was sitting on my heels a little more than normal... due to my 2.5 month knee injury. No worries though, it was so much fun!!

Let me just say that it was the most organized and fun tryout, or practice, or summer soccer camp that I've ever been a part of! Variety, challenging, engaging, and invigorating. Each and every one of the Philly Independence staff was friendly, curteous, honest and open.

Didn't get the call-back for tryouts in January, but couldn't really expect much having not been at 100% total competition level.

I'll be working up to Freedom's tryouts in February!

MRI results

MRI results came back November 20th. GREAT news!! Come to find out, I tore my PCL (posterior cruciate ligament), which does the exact opposite of the ACL. If you're gonna tear one of them, the PCL is the one to tear (as athletes are very aware).

So, my options at that time were to play with a knee brace or get surgery. Knee brace = I can play! Surgery = set back at least 6 months.

I opted for the knee brace.... Not enough time to get one before tryouts in Philly beginning of December, so went to tryouts hoping the knee was strong enough and showed well...