The first day of school is usually filled with new classes and seeing friends again after a long break. But for junior and varsity volleyball player Avery Betteley, the first day of her sophomore year came with more challenges than just trying to find her classes.
At her volleyball game after the first day of school, Betteley went in to spike the ball but she didn’t time her jump correctly which caused her to land and dislocate her knee.
“In the moment I was shocked and I didn’t really know what was going on. I could tell that I had hurt my knee but I didn’t know what I did,” Betteley said.
When Betteley went to the doctor after her injury occurred, she was upset with the news she received. What the doctor originally thought was a dislocated knee, turned into a tear in her ACL (a ligament in the knee) and meniscus (cartilage in the knee) resulting in her needing surgery.
During the month between the doctor’s visit and having surgery, Betteley didn’t process what was soon to inevitably come.
“I just told people ‘Yeah I have to have surgery’ but I never realized that like ‘Oh my gosh I actually have to have surgery,’” Betteley said.
Betteley didn’t really process it the day of her surgery either. She recalls her doctor telling her that her blood pressure was lower than the average person about to get surgery.
“I was pretty calm about it and it didn’t really freak me out,” Betteley said.
After the surgery, she was on strict bed rest for a week before returning to school on crutches and a brace.
Betteley soon continued to attend every game but instead of playing, she was sidelined the rest of the season.
“[She] was such a trooper, she definitely took it hard at first as anyone would,” senior teammate and close friend Lindsey Lange said. “But after she figured out how everything was going to go with her recovery, she was such a light. She pushed everyone and made all of us want to work harder everyday.”
Looking back on recovery, Betteley remembered a time that was particularly hard for her.
When the team had gone to districts last year, she had to give up her jersey number to a player who got brought up from the JV team which wasn’t easy for her.
“Even though I wasn’t on the court, I was still #7. I still stood on the end of the court and got announced with everyone else, so it still felt like I was part of the team even though I couldn’t play,” Betteley said. “But when I had to let someone else wear my jersey, it made me kind of feel like I wasn’t a part of the team anymore and my spot had been taken.”
The brace finally came off seven months later and the physical therapy ended three months after that. Then finally, she was able to return to practice just a few months ago.
“I had to kind of jump right back into it due to COVID,” Betteley said. “It’s been a little challenging for me because I’m not at the same level of playing that I was at before. I know that I have to work with what I have.”
Betteley had a long road to get to where she currently is and even though the majority of the recovery is behind her, she is still continuing to recover.
“[I want] to try to stay mentally positive and to try to not get frustrated when I feel like I’m not doing as well as I think I should be doing because I can’t push myself too hard since I’m still healing. I don’t want to reinjure myself or make more problems for myself down the road,” Betteley said.
Even with the struggles she endured, her injury left a lasting impact on her other teammates as well.
“She never let her injury get in her way. She always wanted and worked hard to be a part of everything,” Lange said. “Seeing her push herself so hard with a big obstacle in her midst made me feel determined [to overcome my own obstacles] each and every day.”
