Casey Maxwell, 11, a current basketball and softball player and a former soccer and volleyball player, has had her fair share of sporting injuries. They affected her in more ways than some people might be aware of. Maxwell stated, “I have had two concussions, one was my freshman year, and one was this year.” 

   Maxwell’s first concussion was worse than most. She states, “My first concussion left me recovering for four months. I got this while playing soccer. It was a corner kick, and a girl tried to head the ball into the net, but completely missed and hit my head instead. The other girls’ heads split open, and mine had this giant lump.” While this tragedy left Maxwell recovering for four months, that time did not pass easily. “Because of this, freshman year was a struggle for me. It was hard not being able to do anything. I couldn’t do any schoolwork. I missed my entire freshman year basketball season, which was really frustrating since I was super excited for that; it might’ve been what I was looking forward to most for high school.” This also impacted her sophomore basketball season. Maxwell stated, “Since I missed freshman season, I put in a lot more work to prove myself sophomore season. I felt like I had the time I needed to make up. I was also super excited, so it was just a really good season. I had a lot of fun and was actually super happy I could play. I didn’t even put so much pressure on myself because I was just happy I was on the court.”

   Outside of school, this also affected Maxwell’s social and emotional life. She stated, “I felt like I kind of drifted from a lot of people because I closed off since I was so focused on getting better.” Maxwell stated, “I was very depressed during that period of time. I am very big on movement and always like to go for walks, runs, and exercise, but I wasn’t able to do any of that. I couldn’t even read or anything to pass my time. I couldn’t watch TV. I was very bored and frustrated since I was watching all of my friends playing basketball, and I had to just sit there.” While practices were going on, Maxwell found herself with the trainers, Guy Midure and Katherine Skinner. Maxwell stated, “The one good thing that came out of it was I got really, really strong from working out with Guy and Katie, that was the best way for me to get nursed back to health. I didn’t work with them in the beginning, but when I was further into my recovery, maybe like a month in, I started working out with them.” When Maxwell healed from this concussion, it didn’t fully go away. Instead, it left her with a little fear. Maxwell stated, “It took me a while to get over this, but when I first got hurt I was scared to even turn corners in hallways because I was nervous someone would hit me in the head. During my first practice back from my injury, I was trying out for my AAU team, and I almost didn’t do it because I had a panic attack. Even after my most recent concussion, my first game back was horrible. I had a panic attack and didn’t go back out because of it. I played the third quarter again, but was still so mentally out of it.” The cause of Maxwell’s second concussion was getting elbowed in the back of the head. She said, “I got elbowed in the back of the head twice in the same game while playing Gloucester Catholic. I was out for about three weeks; it was a quick recovery.”

   The first concussion did not stop when it affected Maxwell physically and mentally; it also impacted her academically. She stated, “I had to retake both my math class and my Spanish class, because they’re classes that build on each other. Since I missed such a big chunk of both of them, I had to retake them. Other than that, I was able to make up a lot of my work. All of my teachers helped a lot by exempting assignments.” 

   Maxwell has been through a lot with her concussions, but has learned from them as well. She stated, “Everything in life is kind of just a learning experience, even though bad things happen, the world is not collapsing. You can still find good in situations, even if you’re not in a good situation. It is okay to open up and talk about your feelings rather than bottling them up. Honestly, when you do that, it makes you feel a lot better.” Maxwell has one thing she thinks all student athletes who are dealing with an injury should know. She stated, “It sucks, but try to take it as a learning experience, try to find good in the situation. Maybe find a new hobby, take time to get closer to family, just try not to feel down and sad because it’ll make the situation worse and drag it out longer.”