After summer camps, morning workouts, a week of arduous tryouts and another week of season practices, her only wish was to make the varsity team as a sophomore along with her friends. As teams were announced the dream became a reality, but little did she know it came with a cost, crushing what she had worked so hard for. Sophomore Makenna Davis was soon diagnosed with fractured shins and she had not anticipated to return after the previous season. With the fear of her basketball career and soon to be soccer career in danger, Davis pushes forward.

“I do exercises with the trainer everyday,” Davis said. “I try to keep ahead of the pain so it doesn’t get worse and as of now I still have three weeks of rehab before I can do actual physical activity,” 

From a young age Davis was injury prone. Several rolled and sprained ankles later the tally chart grew to an uncountable point. Her shins grew weak and tired starting her freshman year basketball season, only calling it shin splints and settled with ice as a treatment. At the time, Davis was a freshman and not only played high school basketball but continued her soccer journey on a club team, causing a greater strain from double the physical activity. 

“I just played through it all. As I played, however, it got worse through the season even after I was put in a boot,” Davis said. “I hated sitting out and being injured so I decided to continue even though it hurt me. After high school basketball was over I still played high school soccer along with club, and I guess the pain just never really went away.”

As her high school years continued, sophomore year took a major toll not only on Davis’ shins but on her mentality and love for sports. The injury grew worse leaving her with a stress fracture in just the left shin, causing the right leg to compensate harder for what the left couldn’t do, leaving both legs sore and strained. 

“I went to the doctors I’d say four or five times just this year. All were different doctors, I went to people who specialized in different areas like the chiropractor but ended up with the orthopedic doctor. I got a lot of stretches but the main thing I needed to do was rest, that’s what all of them said,” Davis said. 

Sitting on the varsity bench watching her teammates grow lead Davis to struggle with confidence. 

“It’s been really hard because I always like to be moving and doing something and I can’t do anything. I made varsity and I wanted to improve my game and contribute to the team, but I feel like I can’t do that either,” Davis said. “It makes me sad sitting on the bench all the time, I was just initially devastated but I couldn’t handle the pain anymore.” 

Although Davis struggles to keep her hopes high, all of her teammates, such as Cate Hahn, knows she contributes in many other ways. 

“Makenna is a great teammate whether she’s playing or not. She encourages us to do better and hypes us up on the bench,” Hahn said. “She’s a good friend and never fails to make us all smile on and off the court.”