Player Profile: Eddie Aiken’s Injury Comeback

Eddie Aikens was at the top of his game until an unfortunate injury, which led him to miss tryouts and the whole 2023 season.
​by Christian Cortez and Paulina Rodriguez

​Eddie Aikens has been playing soccer his whole life. He has played for the school since 8th grade and made it on the varsity team as a freshman and is now a sophomore. Eddie was the top goal scorer in his 9th grade year, surpassing everyone else in goals. He was at the top of his game until an unfortunate event in his career occurred during his second season playing. Aikens stated “I got injured before the season; playing for another team outside of school.” This injury led him to miss tryouts and miss the whole season. He tore his ACL and had to stay out for at least 6-8 months. Eddie also stated that “I could have released the ball sooner instead of trying to get by the other player to avoid an injury.” This is the longest Eddie has been out of soccer and wishes to go back as soon as possible.

His absence affected the team since Eddie played a big part in the strategy last year. He stated “It affected the team in some aspects because they had no true number 9 [striker], so they were rotating different players around all season trying to find a goal scorer, and that left other positions in need, so it was a mess. It also affected the teams I played for outside of high school because they had big plans like going out of state for tournaments and they had to change some things up since I couldn't play.”

​Eddie is doing as much as he can to get better as soon as possible. He also said “I go to physical therapy every week and it helps a lot. I will try out next season for the team and train as much as I can during the summer if my therapist allows me to”. Eddie plans to come back and try out next year while hopefully coming back stronger and better than before.

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