Here at WHHS, we are known for our great academic success, but we rarely are noticed for the sports that many students participate in. Balancing school and sports can be difficult, but getting injured can be the worst thing for a student athlete.

For Sara Kemper, ‘24, an injury was an unexpected and terrible shot that was fired at her. Kemper has been playing volleyball for seven years and during that time has never gotten an injury before.
“It was a misunderstanding between me and my coach and I went to go for the ball and my coach went to hit the ball down… I went to go get it and she hit the ball in my face,” Kemper said.

Kemper was out with a concussion for 11 days and during that time, Kemper was unable to play or even touch a volleyball. Kemper said the hardest part about being injured is “not being able to play and having to watch other people play.”

“Sitting on the side lines and watching the team not doing well and not being able to help them is really hard,” Kemper said.

In the state of Ohio, student athletes such as Kemper who have been injured must go through a five day recovery process before they go back to full-on contact.

During the process, a player eases into contact through different drills to make sure that they are physically and mentally able to come back one hundred percent. “Listen to the doctors and trainers about procedures because if you don’t, your injury will just ramp up and become worse,” Kemper said.

Kemper has learned from her injury and reflected on it to make her become a better and more aware player.

“Treasure every moment doing what you love because you might not be able to do it again,” Kemper said.

Throughout this experience, Kemper has learned to cherish every moment she gets on the court because she knows that at any moment it could be taken away from her.