A “pop” feeling is all it takes to destroy a senior season. That feeling was the case within 30 days earlier this fall for three North Allegheny athletes: Liam Flaherty, running back and linebacker for the football team; Noah Spak, safety and receiver for the football team; and Travis Lamark, a four-year starter and captain of the hockey team and three-year starter on the lacrosse team. Each of these athletes recently suffered the same unlucky outcome, a torn ACL.
An Anterior Cruciate Ligament, more commonly known as an ACL, is a very small ligament that goes through the center of the knee and connects the femur to the tibia. It is small, but also important and destructive if torn. It is an uncommon and severe injury, and the fact that it happened to three different athletes who are all friends in 30 days is deeply unfortunate.
“When it happened, I felt a pop, and it was one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. I knew right away something was wrong,” Lamark said.
Tearing the ACL can occur through contact, but the more common type of tear is a no-contact tear. That is what happened to all three NA athletes.
While not all tears happen the same way, and all injuries are different, Lamark was the only one out of the three to experience extreme pain when the injury occurred. Both Flaherty and Spak felt a pop, making it off the field on their weight, while Lamark could not.
Liam Flaherty, the first of the three injured, is already well on his way to recovery. Recovery time post-surgery runs six to nine months and sometimes can be longer. Flaherty tore his ACL on September 27th in a game against Central Catholic.
“Recovery is going great,” he said. “I’m not in much pain anymore, and I have started to feel positive for the growth I am going to continue to make throughout this process.”
While Spak’s operation was more recent, he is still in the very early stages of recovery.
“It definitely has been a challenge, more mentally than physically,” Spak said. “Knowing you won’t be able to go out on the field and play the sport you love ever again definitely takes a toll on you.”
While tearing your ACL is a major physical setback, it is, at times, even more of a mental setback. About 42% of athletes who tear their ACL experience some sort of depression. As young high school athletes, it can be very hard to stay motivated, especially after losing an important senior season like each of these athletes did.
“I definitely turned towards different things after I got hurt, as it was a big change in my life,” Flaherty said. “I turned to faith and my family to help navigate me through everything I was feeling, and the team and my friends have been such a help and a big group of guys I could lean on throughout this process. The healing has only just begun, but the support system I have makes a huge difference towards my mentality to get through this.”
Lamark is different from Spak and Flaherty, as he has not had surgery yet. And Lamark will not only miss one sports season but two.
“I have been really leaning on my family and friends since it happened,” Lamark said. “It has been hard to adjust and learn who I am without playing these sports that I have played since I was a kid, but now I am reflecting on what really matters.”
For all three athletes, the importance of a network of friends has proven crucial.
“Having Liam by my side through this experience has been really beneficial to my physical and mental recovery so far,” Spak said. “He has helped me and given me pointers on how to go about recovering from a surgery like this. The whole team has been by our sides throughout this. Every player and coach truly cares about us and is here for us throughout this time in our life.”
