The Lancer Way: Rebecca Romero
10/16/2019 11:45:00 AM | Women's Soccer, The Lancer Way
The Lancer Way is a new platform provided by California Baptist University's Athletic Department that allows student-athletes to share their stories.
All of the words are their own.
Written By: Rebecca Romero, Women's Soccer, R-Sr., Riverside, Calif.
I didn't want to go through it again. I wasn't going to.
I had done it all right the first time. I had the ACL reconstruction surgery, I did the physical therapy two to three times a week, I wore the big robotic-looking brace that was supposed to protect me during games, but it happened again, and there I was sitting with my surgeon with my second ACL tear.
I was sitting in the doctor's office listening to him explain how my soccer career was coming to an end, and I should highly consider retirement; and at that moment, I had accepted it.
I didn't want to go through another surgery, another year of rehab, another battle to get back the soccer skills that I lost during my time away from the game.
I was verbally committed to play soccer here at CBU. If I were to make the decision to stop playing, I would have to make a phone call to my coach to inform her of my retirement from soccer, but I couldn't get myself to make the call. The coaches had believed in me and my ability to come back from my first ACL tear even when I didn't believe in myself. After thinking about my journey to my recovery, I decided to make the call.
The ringing felt like an eternity, but nonetheless, she answered. Saying the words about my re-injury out loud made everything feel so real. I didn't know it then, but the response she gave was something that would change my life forever; "Can we pray for you?" and I knew at that moment that I was exactly where I needed to be.
I could hear my doctor saying, "Most people don't go back to playing sports, let alone collegiate sports after this type of injury," but I wasn't most people. I refused to let my second ACL tear win the battle, and so I began another journey to recover.
So, I did it all again.
I went through another surgery, another year of physical therapy and rehab, another struggle to get back on the field and perform effectively at the collegiate level, but I did it.
People say that you don't know what you have until it's gone.
The first time I tore my ACL, I was so focused on rushing to get back on the field that I didn't take a step back to see what God was doing in my life.
So instead of going through the same process again, I chose to change it. I learned more about the game and grew to appreciate the things on the outside of the field that I didn't take the time to see before.
I fell in love again.
I fell in love with the game like that four-year-old me had once done before.
CBU always felt like home to me. From the moment I stepped on the campus, I had this sense of serenity. From the coaches to the team, to the faculty on campus, I always felt welcomed and loved.
The difference between CBU and other schools is that the faculty at CBU genuinely cares about each and every one of their students; you aren't just a number in a sea of students. CBU cares about setting you up for success after college, just like the athletics staff works hard to prepare their athletes for life after collegiate sports.
There were several positive outcomes from my injury that I would have never experienced if I would have given up on soccer. I didn't know what I wanted to do after college before my injuries, but trip after trip to the doctors always brought me back to the radiology department. I have gone through numerous x-rays, MRI's, and injections, and after taking the time away from soccer and at the doctors, I realized what I wanted to do.
I wanted to work in radiology.
I chose a path in college that would allow me to give back to others the way that the radiology department did for me by helping me get back on the soccer field once again.
Choosing to attend college at CBU was the best decision I could have ever made. CBU gave me the resources that I needed to take the unfortunate situation that life dealt me and turn it into motivation to prosper.
In addition to the wonderful coaches and teammates, I was blessed with incredible athletic trainers and strength coaches that helped remind me of my small successes along the way to my full recovery. I was directed to professors that helped challenge me and guide me to find the subjects that I excelled in and wanted to continue to pursue.
God has a remarkable way of giving us the people what we need and putting us in places we need to be at the time that we need them the most.
Looking back on my adversities to get to where I am today, I can see that God knew all along that my injuries were going to occur, and He wouldn't stop them from happening; but He knew that CBU was where I needed to be to go through it again and that's where He put me.
I am so grateful for my experiences and time at CBU, and I am so thankful that I got to fall in love with the game of soccer all over again.
"That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:10.
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