Springfield, Ohio —With just a few minutes left in the Wittenberg women's soccer team's final 2006 preseason scrimmage, goalkeeper Jordan Bamberger, class of 2009 from Solon, Ohio, was involved in the type of collision that takes place numerous times during an average college soccer season.
"Jordan's knee hyperextended and the lateral - or outside - part of the joint was forced open, which is called a varus stress," said Wittenberg Assistant Certified Athletic Trainer Michaelyn Sebold. "She had approximately seven to nine different structures damaged. It was definitely the most traumatic knee injury we've seen here in a female."
Wittenberg and Cincinnati Reds Team Physician Tim Kremchek, class of 1973, analyzed the MRI tests the next day and delivered the grim diagnosis. A posterolateral corner reconstruction with a lateral meniscus repair was performed by Peter Cha, attending surgeon at Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine in Cincinnati.
Fast forward more than two years, and there was Bamberger with five other senior teammates, hoisting a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championship trophy on the same field where she had suffered her injury. Bamberger started all 21 games in 2008 as the Tigers posted records of 11-4-6 overall and 5-2-1 in the NCAC while winning the conference tournament and advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament for a third straight year.
Sebold likes to think Bamberger has "come full circle" after a rehabilitation process that tested both the student-athlete's will and the mettle of Wittenberg's sports medicine staff.
"Jordan's rehab was very slow, very painful," Sebold said. "Most knee patients get better every day. There is obvious progression. But Jordan, for the first couple months, had to be locked straight out in her brace after every rehab session. So she started at ground zero basically every day.
"There was more hands-on with me having to do a lot of the work because for those few months she was not allowed to actively use her hamstrings. The pain was so excruciating for her that some days it took an hour and a half to bend her just five times. She had to be held down by one of my students because it was so painful. It was the first time I had ever done this type of rehab so we did everything by the book."
Not only was Bamberger forced to endure grueling rehabilitation and exercise sessions, she also watched almost exclusively from the sidelines as the Tigers put together two of the finest seasons in school history in 2006 and 2007. As Wittenberg won 33 games and the first two NCAC Tournament titles in school history, Bamberger took a medical red-shirt in 2006 and then saw just 45 minutes of action in 2007.
"Through the rehab, I wondered how much I could take," said Bamberger, a psychology major and biology minor who is considering a career, ironically, in occupational therapy. "Every single day, I would go in and do exercises. I was often screaming in pain. It was frustrating that I got hurt, and it was just as frustrating that it took so long to come back.
"This season was worth everything I had to go through. I feel like I came back from something that others may not have had to go through."
While confident that Bamberger would eventually return to the field, her comeback has been inspirational to Head Coach Norm Riker.
"Jordan's injury was worse than feared, but I never doubted Jordan would get through it," Riker said. "I never doubted her resolve, her love for her teammates and this program - I knew she would work her way back. I also knew her teammates would help her through her hardest days, and they did.
"Jordan's character, toughness and personality are the catalyst for her getting through this injury. The 2008 season she had in goal for Wittenberg is an inspiration for all of us who know her."
Sebold, a former high school and club soccer goalkeeper herself, was so impressed by Bamberger's return to competitive soccer that she suggested a feature story to the editors of Training & Conditioning Magazine. Her story appeared in the December issue of the publication.
"(Head Certified Athletic Trainer) Ellen Crosbie and I knew they did this feature in this magazine," Sebold said. "We thought Jordan was perfect for it. We wanted her to see that even though she was in the shadow of an All-American for three years that her hard work and determination wasn't overlooked by everyone.
"We are all so incredibly proud of her down in the training room - from my students, because many of them were involved in her rehab, to the certified athletic trainers. This could have ended her career. I don't know many athletes who would have done what she did everyday and come back for more just to know she was going to be the back-up. I wanted Jordan to see her hard work would pay off, and it clearly has with her successful season."
Written By: Ryan Maurer
Photos By: Erin Pence