Hokie ClubStepping onto that court for the very first time was everything I imagined it would be.
I was just a kid from Blacksburg, finally getting a chance to play in front of my hometown at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center — and as a Virginia Tech Hokie, no less.
Just the other day, I was telling someone about that moment and what it meant to me, and that person said they could see it on my face.
I was glowing from ear-to-ear like I was living the absolute dream.
And it's because I am.
Just to have that opportunity to play in front of my hometown crowd and be healthy — it's something I'm very, very grateful for.
Mainly, because it could have easily been taken away.
Back-to-back years of surgeries could have stolen that moment from me.
But here I am.
Third time's the charm.
The tale of two surgeries
The first surgery came after I noticed my hip was hurting and progressively getting worse in my first year with the team.
As an athlete, you try to push through those things, but this was bad enough that I finally decided to see the school doctors.
A torn hip labrum was the diagnosis.
I was obviously super bummed about the injury, but at the same time, I was able to kind of take a step back and remind myself that it wasn't my time.
Strangely enough, there was also this whole other side to me that was sort of craving that battle.
I don't want to say I was pumped up because I was injured, right?
Being injured is never a good thing. But there was at least some readiness there to embrace the challenge of working towards that big comeback moment.
Make no mistake, it was a brutal rehab process.
It's six weeks on crutches, followed by learning to walk again. Yeah, real fun stuff (not really).
It was a long recovery.
I had it done in April, and it was that next fall when I had recovered enough to step back on the court.
But as I was getting back into the swing of things, my left hip started hurting.
Back when I got hurt initially, I actually knew that both labrums were torn.
Since the left side was only a small tear and didn't bother me at the time, we decided to only do surgery on the right one.
But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case anymore.
It was like the movie "Groundhog Day."
I was seeing doctors, doing another surgery and enduring another long and painful rehab process.
All. Over. Again.
But the second surgery wasn't filled with the same 'optimism and excitement' as the first one.
Something about that one was different.
The comeback after the comeback
I can honestly say that the second surgery was probably the darkest moment of my life.
I'd already done all of that work just to get back to playing, and things were finally beginning to fall into place. And then, another injury shook everything up and basically forced me to start back at zero. Again.
It wasn't just any injury, either.
It was the exact same injury on the other hip. At that moment, you know, you kind of feel like it might be the end of your career.
I started to wonder if I'd ever have that moment of playing college tennis in front of my hometown .
It was a dream I'd had since the very beginning.
Playing at Virginia Tech has always been the goal, even when I didn't know if I was good enough to make it.
My dad has been the coach here for the last 24 seasons, and I fell in love with the sport by coming on campus as a kid and watching the student-athletes on his team play the game.
They were always so nice to me, and they kind of looked out for me as well.
So naturally, I wanted to be like them.
People say all of the time, "You went down this path because of your dad."
He inspired me to start and has been with me every step of the way
But I have always walked my own path, even with my dad in the picture.
Finding a light in darkness
I had some unbelievable people around me to help get me back on my feet — doctors, physical therapists, coaches, and teammates.
Going through something like that, it's easy to get lost and start to feel like you're not really part of the team, even though you are.
You just feel like everyone else is practicing, lifting, and doing all of these things, and all of a sudden, you can't do that stuff anymore.
You kind of learn a lot about yourself in those dark times.
While I was hurt, I served as our volunteer assistant coach.
So, I was still very much involved. But even as fulfilling as coaching was for me, nothing compared to being out there on that court in front of my hometown crowd — just like I dreamed of as a kid.
The Year Three Freshman
Who would have thought I'd be a year three freshman before I ever got the chance to live out that dream?
I'm not bitter about any of my experiences.
Sure, I'm listed as a freshman on the roster, but I have a lot of experience and perspective that helps me understand things on a deeper level.
I know how fragile this all is and how quickly it can all be taken away.
Coaching has also helped me become a better leader, and that's something I've been interested in doing for a long time. Just the opportunity to work with younger players and pass on knowledge to the next generation is something I could certainly see myself doing down the line.
But not yet.
Professional tennis is still hopefully in the cards for me, even though the two injuries make it a little harder to see that.
But it's still very much a goal of mine.
There's also life after the sport, too.
I'll eventually graduate with an MBA in management consulting and analytics, which will obviously open up opportunities outside of athletics, too.
But all of that stuff can wait.
I just want to enjoy the moment that has been taken away from me twice before.
And now that I'm actually living in it, I never want it to end.