“Champion match of the second tournament of the season, I went up and came down hearing a pop. I knew something wasn’t right, but it wasn’t my ankle this time, but actually my knee.” 

“In just two weeks, I was told I had a full tear in my ACL. A few hospital trips, one MRI scan, and it was seven a.m. I was getting ready to make the drive to my surgeon.” 

“I was very nervous because this was my first surgery, and it kept getting pushed back. It was very hard on me after surgery because I was very groggy. My surgeon didn’t use stitches, so I shouldn’t have a big scar, which is a good thing.” 

Emily Kilpatrick is an eleventh grader at Osceola Fundamental. She has been playing volleyball since sixth grade. She made her start with the HEAT team and stayed there for three years. She says, “It was a great team, but they favored others so I couldn’t move up to elite.” This information led her to make the decision to switch teams. Emily then moved to a new club- Coastal. She says, “The first time I tried out there, I made the elite team. It was so much fun with all the new people I got to play with!” She stayed with Coastal for about a year, and then she chose to progress to the next stage in her volleyball career. She then tried out for the New Waves volleyball team and made it. Emily says her favorite part about this team was “the great community of girls she got to interact with.” Currently, Emily is a part of the New Waves team and the Osceola Varsity volleyball team. Her journey with the Osceola team started in ninth grade when she made junior varsity. She continued playing on junior varsity in tenth grade and became one of three captains that same year. This year (junior year) she made the varsity team and plays the right-side position for the team. Emily says, “It’s great to get experience with those older than me”. She also says, “I plan to make varsity for my senior year” despite her recent injury. Emily’s ACL tear has left her attending PT weekly, making improvements with each visit. She says, “This injury opened my eyes to another version of me so I can come back stronger”. She says she “needed that step back to become better than before”. Her plan for after high school is to “get a scholarship to play D1 for a college like UF or Gulf Coast”, says Emily. “She says, “If that doesn’t work out, then I’ll try for D2”. Emily’s resilience and love for volleyball has led her down the path to new friends and experiences which she hopes to continue after graduating high school. She says her knee injury was a new opportunity that didn’t hold her back.