You can’t control the injury. You can control the story.

How to turn injury recovery into your recruiting story (instead of your recruiting excuse)

Lou Combrinck has had four surgeries on the same knee.

Four different times under anesthesia. Four different recoveries starting from zero.

Last month, she scored the overtime goal to win a conference championship, in her last game on her home field.

Then they named her tournament MVP.

Her injury didn’t end her story. It shaped it.

Lou’s comeback story sprang to mind when a recruit emailed recently about her ACL tear.

I could feel the panic through the screen. She’s a sophomore. Surgery is scheduled. She’ll miss all of winter indoor, all the spring showcases, maybe summer tournaments.

Right when college coaches are evaluating her class most intensely, she’ll be rehabbing instead of playing.

There was a sadness to her email, understandably. But all is not lost for her, or anyone else facing a similar situation.

Two injury timelines (and why both are survivable)

Scenario 1: You get injured after June 15th of sophomore year

College coaches can finally talk to you directly. You’ve been emailing them all year. You’ve built some relationships. You’ve been seen at showcases.

Then you get hurt.

This feels devastating because right when conversations should be happening, you can’t be seen playing anymore.

But the body of work you’ve already built matters. The emails you’ve sent. The showcases you’ve attended. The camps you’ve been to. That doesn’t disappear because you got hurt.

Coaches remember players. And if they were interested before the injury, they’re still evaluating you based on everything they’ve already seen.

Scenario 2: You get injured before June 15th of sophomore year

This one feels scarier.

You’re injured during the prime evaluation window. Coaches are figuring out who goes on their recruiting board, who they’ll pursue when June 15th hits.

And you’re on the sideline instead of the field.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it - this is harder. You miss opportunities to be seen. You miss chances to prove yourself against top competition. You miss the showcases that matter.

But it’s not fatal to recruiting. It’s just more work.

What you can and can’t control

You can’t control that you got hurt.

You can’t control that ACL recovery takes 9-12 months.

You can’t control that you’ll miss tournaments, showcases, and evaluation opportunities.

You can’t control that some coaches will move on to other players rather than wait.

Fighting against these realities doesn’t help. Accepting them does.

Because once you accept what you can’t control, you can focus on what you can.

You do control the narrative.

Not what happened. But what you’re doing about it.

And that narrative - told consistently, honestly, and specifically - becomes your recruiting story.

College coaches aren’t looking for players who never struggle. We’re looking for players who struggle and keep going anyway.

So when you tell your injury story to coaches, don’t sanitize it.

Tell them it was devastating. Tell them you cried. Tell them there was a moment you wanted to give up.

Then tell them why you didn’t.

This injury will either become the thing that defined your limitations or the thing that revealed your character.

The difference is what you do next.

The opportunities nobody sees

When you’re not practicing or playing for multiple hours a week, you have time.

Time to reach out to a player you’ve always admired, and ask her for advice.

Time to study the game at a higher level than your teammates who are just practicing.

Time to watch film - not just highlights, but full games of international hockey, college games, players in your position making decisions under pressure.

Time to notice, for instance, how top midfielders create space before they receive the ball, not after.

Time to understand what makes elite players elite beyond just their technical skills.

Your teammates are learning by doing. You’re learning by observing.

Both are valuable. But observation without the pressure to perform gives you a different kind of understanding.

The narrative you need to tell

This isn’t about hiding the injury or pretending it didn’t happen.

It’s about telling the story of what you’re doing about it.

In your emails to college coaches:

Tell them what happened. Be specific. “I tore my ACL in the state championship game when I planted to change direction.”

Tell them how you felt. Be honest. “It was devastating. I cried knowing I’d miss spring clinics and probably summer tournaments.”

Tell them what you’re doing. Be concrete. “I’m attacking rehab like I attacked training. I’m ahead of my PT benchmarks. I’m watching film to improve my tactical understanding while I can’t improve my physical game.”

Tell them what you’re learning. Be specific. “I’ve been studying how international midfielders create space without the ball. I’ve noticed that...”

That last part is key. Don’t just say you’re watching film. Tell coaches what you’re learning from it.

That proves you’re actually doing the work, not just saying you are.

The question for you

If you’re injured right now, here’s what I want you to ask yourself:

Six months from now, when college coaches ask, “What did you do during your injury recovery?” - what story will you tell?

Will it be “I was hurt so I couldn’t do anything”?

Or will it be “I was hurt so I couldn’t practice, but here’s what I did instead...”?

The injury already happened. You can’t change that.

But the story of what happens next? That’s entirely up to you.

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Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for a follow-up piece for paid subscribers that shows you exactly how to write that story - the email templates, the film study framework, and the communication timeline that keeps you visible.