Sophomore Alison Romer is not like any other athlete, she has overcome
multiple injuries,
starting as a young athlete. Alison’s first knee surgery was at age twelve when she tore her right ACL (anterior cruciate ligament.) After recovering, a few years later, she had torn her left ACL and meniscus at the end of her junior year.
When it came to looking at schools, she felt discouraged because most
college coaches recruit during athlete’s junior year and Alison was out
injured. In high school, Alison was a competitive soccer player and track runner.
She qualified for the New Balance outdoor Nationals in North Carolina with her
relay team. She knew she wanted to pursue soccer at a competitive level, so she
chose Oneonta. With a great balance in academics, and an outstanding soccer
program, her choice was a perfect fit. It was the summer before freshman year
when I first met Alison at orientation. A little after getting to know her, I
knew we had a lot in common. Running track and overcoming injuries, I knew I
just made a life long friendship. 
Alison had prepared for her freshman year preseason and was in tiptop
shape. After moving into our dorms and completing our several fitness tests the
same day, we knew we had a long week ahead of us. A few brutal days had gone by
and it was the last day of preseason when we had a scrimmage. After all of
Alison’s hard work, she had injured herself not knowingly and woke up the next
day unable to walk. Her left knee was swollen twice as large as the actual
size. The trainers were unable to diagnose what was wrong, so she traveled back
and forth from doctors at home to try and get results. She played with her
injury for four months until she severely hurt it to the point where she
couldn’t walk nor bend it. She wasn’t surprised when she found out that she had
once again tore her left meniscus to shreds. Now if this were me, I would have
stopped playing soccer a long time ago, but Ali was determined to get healthy
again and get some playing time on the field. At this point of her college
soccer career, Ali only saw the field a few times during the season and was
ready to come back for her sophomore year. 
This wasn’t it, she was just getting started. Recovery for a meniscus
surgery is only six weeks, but a week before she was supposed to be cleared to
play, she began having severe chest pains to the point where she wasn’t able to
breathe. She was soon admitted to the Emergency Room, where she found out she
had a blood clot in her left knee (DVT), which later moved up to her right lung.
She was diagnosed with having a pulmonary embolism, which is deadly, and she
was lucky to be alive. As an athlete, this would be the breaking point for most, but somehow she recovered quick and still wanted to see the field again.
Unfortunately she had to rest the whole summer due to this injury, but the mono
and carpal tunnel she was diagnosed with didn’t help her recovery time. So, Ali
never got a break and to top it off, this year (sophomore year) she tore her
right meniscus for the second time.
Whenever I talk to Ali about all of these back-to-back injuries she
says, “I couldn’t picture my life not playing soccer and I’m going to try to
play until someone says I physically can’t.” Even though she doesn’t have
stories to tell about being about to play, she has endless stories about battling
multiple injuries. I personally have never met an athlete as determined as her.
Even though she isn’t able to participate in practices or games she works out
everyday and spends hours in the training room. My teammate Laura says, “Being
a student-athlete is mentally and physically straining enough; so I think Ali’s
continued push to play again, despite her setbacks, shows a lot about her
strength.” If this doesn’t motivate people then I don’t know what does. Ali is
trying her best to get back and hopefully next season she will see the field
again.
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