Sept. 23, 2010
Throughout the 2010 season, Penn State will feature a student athlete before every home game. The feature will appear in the game program. Penn State faces Michigan State on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
By Steven Hughes, GoPSUsports.com Writer
For athletes playing Fall sports, August is the last month of preparation before teams begin their grueling season. The grind of training camp gives way to the beginning of preseason and players buzz for a chance to show off their hard work.
Meghan Gill is no different. Nevertheless, August 2009 presented Gill with a different fate when a corner kick in a preseason practice cost the hard working midfielder her season.
She thought it was a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) that caused her slight swelling in her right knee. She thought perhaps it was a sprain that would keep her sidelined for three weeks. To her surprise the MRI of her knee showed a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) that required eight months to a year of nursing before she could take the field again.
"It was a big shock," Gill said. "Especially at first when you hear the news because you know what kind of injury it is and you know it's going to be a long road back."
Gill used her positive attitude and teammates' family embrace to cope with soccer's rewards and challenges.
Her first challenge was surgery. To repair Gill's damaged ligament, doctors performed a standard surgery that takes a piece of the patellar tendon, the piece that attaches the kneecap and shin together, and uses it to replace the torn parts of the ACL.
Not only was Gill's ACL healing, but her mind was on the mend as well. In 2007 Gill tore her medial collateral ligament (MCL) costing her most of her freshman season. Losing another season was all too familiar for Gill.
"Mentally it's tough at first because you kinda go inside yourself," she said.
Gill may have been down on herself after surgery but she said her team didn't allow her to stay low for long. Instead, they picked her up. She said her team responded by saying they needed her to be there for them and encouraged her during her recovery.
"It is personally about you getting back and getting healthy, but then you realize it's about helping this team any way that you can," Gill said.
Gill started rehabilitation with her mind set on getting back on the field to help her team. At the same time Bri Garcia was in her second month of rehab from her season-ending ACL injury. Gill and Garcia grew close through their many months of therapy.
"We're a good balance to each other and I feel like we have gotten a lot closer because we have gone through the exact same injury," Garcia said. "We went through rehab at the same time, so we definitely feel that our relationship is a lot closer than it would've been had the injury not occurred with both of us."
Their relationship grew competitive as Gill pushed herself to try and keep up with Garcia.
"[Meghan is] definitely shining, she's going in hard for tackles. She's putting her body into harm's way to get the ball. She's starting to play with a lot more confidence now."Midfielder Bri Garcia |
"Having Bri there rehabbing also and her being like a few months ahead of me, I was always like I can get there," Gill said. "I wanna get there as soon as I can. It was like another motivation to get to the next level seeing that she's getting ahead of me.
Garcia said Gill's chase to speed up her recovery reflected her personality, but sometimes Gill couldn't heal as fast as she wanted to.
"It was a catch up game," Garcia said. "She's coming back trying to cut and I've been cutting. So, it was kind of hard to do the rehabs in our spring season because I had already been back and she was coming back."
Gill found herself testing her vocal chords in the Spring by cheering and screaming for her team on the sidelines with Garcia. The Nittany Lions midfielder turned cheerleader did what she could to help her team succeed while being a mentor for freshman players.
"You have to have that leadership role to take them aside when they're feeling down and get them going again," Gill said. "Just do what you can off the field because you can't do it on the field."
As the 2010 season grew closer Gill looked forward to playing on Jeffrey Field again.
"Playing on Jeffrey Field, it's the nicest field I've ever played on," Gill said. "Being able to play on that for the majority of our games and the majority of our careers is such a motivation."
Garcia said Gill is back and you can't tell she's had a knee surgery, let alone two.
"She's definitely shining," Garcia said. "She's going in hard for tackles. She's putting her body into harm's way to get the ball. She's starting to play with a lot more confidence now."
It's been a long road for Gill, but now she's back where she longed to be last August. Gill is on the field.
--NITTANY LIONS--