“Cheer on my girls.”
Those were the words that incoming senior and North Lamar High School athlete Macy Richardson wrote down on her volleyball team’s whiteboard, where she and each of her teammates wrote down their goals for the season.
Little did she know, she was going to accomplish those goals in a big way but in one of the least desirable ways possible.
“The first person that got to me was (Coach Kathy) Barker,” Macy said. “I’m pretty sure her daughter did the same thing, and as soon as I hit the ground, I knew exactly what it was. It had never happened to me before, but I knew exactly what it was.”
The moment Macy is referring to is when she tore her ACL during her Pantherette volleyball team’s first pre-district tournament. Even though this was the first time she suffered an injury to this severity, she knew what happened as she folded onto the court in pain in the Van High School gymnasium.
“I remember thinking, ‘It cannot be my ACL, it cannot be anything with my knee,’” Macy said. “Even when they took me back to the training room, I walked off the court at Van. I just kept telling Barker that it can’t be my ACL, and that I have too many sports to take part in for this to happen.”
The rehabilitation process for an anterior cruciate ligament tear is long, taxing and a grind in several ways. After successful surgery repaired the tear, Macy embarked on her nearly year-long road to recovery where she had to rebuild her knee and its strength from the beginning.
“When I got my surgery, I couldn’t even lift my leg,” Macy said. “You have to relearn how to walk, you have to relearn how to lift your leg and how to bend your leg. I knew what was ahead of me was going to be the longest nine months of my life, but I knew if I kept getting better every day, then there is no way it would take the entire year. It wasn’t necessarily about getting back to sports, even though I love sports, but it’s more about me knowing I have a life to live.”
Macy faced some tough obstacles in rehab and in not being able to play sports, which taught her valuable life lessons. One of Macy’s biggest takeaways was being able to strengthen her mental fortitude while developing great resolve through adversity.
“I was going to therapy twice a week, and before those appointments, I would sit there and watch everyone play the one thing I love to do,” Macy said. “I would go to therapy and just wonder why I was even there sometimes. Sports has taught me to be tough, but going through this has taught me so much more about mental toughness. I’ve had bad days where I didn’t even want to get out of bed because I felt I had no purpose without sports. The mental part was definitely the hardest part.”
In addition to sharpening her mind, Macy’s spirit was sharpened during the process as well. Realizing the importance of her new role made Macy grow into an even stronger teammate.
“It challenged my character. I could have rolled over and thought, ‘Poor, pitiful me,’ but there are people on the team then who had to play positions they have never played before,” Macy said. “We had a right-side hitter who had to move to an outside hitter, and a right-side hitter who had to play all the time without a ton of experience. Those people would come to me understanding that mentally I know the game really well, and I couldn’t just roll over and pout without helping them. I couldn’t just sit there and pout because they needed me just as much as I needed them. Even though I was injured, all four seniors and everyone else still needed me to be there, and it helped them stay in the game mentally.”
After nine long months of rehab, sports absence and COVID-19, Macy was recently medically cleared to resume physical activity, which means she is ready to jump back into the Pantherette sports program at full force. Even though coming back from her injury was a lengthy and difficult process, her evolution as both a player and a person has been noticeable.
“We all hate that she missed an entire year, but Macy and I agree that this is kind of a blessing,” North Lamar head volleyball coach Sara Beth Upchurch said. “She was able to step back and really learn the game from a whole different perspective, and even see it from the point of view as a coach. She’s said several times that she’s noticed things now that she never noticed as a player, and she said that her sitting on the bench made her a better player. She probably learned more life lessons sitting out than playing. Like I said, we hate that she sat out, but in the end, we really found some good in it. I think it is not only going to make her a phenomenal player, but also a great leader. I think she’s learned a lot of leadership qualities through having to watch her team, and has also learned a lot about being a teammate. She truly could only be a teammate. That was a big deal to her because she was always someone who started and played, she really had to sit back and be a cheerleader and a teammate. Honestly, I think it made her an all-around better person, and I think she would agree with that.”
With each passing year, the bar has been raised for Macy. In her swan song season for North Lamar in volleyball, basketball, pole vault and softball, the sky’s the limit and the standards are high for both Macy the athlete and Macy the teammate.
“Macy has always been a big contributor to our whole athletic program because she does so many things and is obviously very talented,” Upchurch said. “My expectations for her are to contribute this year in a way she never has because she has been a teammate in both roles. She’s gotten to be a teammate, she was honestly like an assistant coach and has also been a player. Now, I feel like her senior season will be even better than expected because she’s ready to take the bull by the horns and contribute in any way she possibly can. She’s not out here trying to prove anything, she’s just trying to be the best contributor to whatever our teams need at the time.”
Although she is excited to make her long-awaited return, Macy is keeping things in perspective. She has no plans to let go of any of the valuable knowledge she has gained, and more than anything is looking forward to sharing the burdens that come with hard work and success with her teammates.
“I want to go out there and strive to be the best person on the court,” Macy said. “It’s not necessarily me up against other people, it’s more me against myself. You don’t really realize how much you love and value something unless it’s taken away. None of them know the pain I went through. It’s up to me now because I know how it feels not to be able to condition. While they were dying, I would do anything to have gone out there and run that mile. They looked like they didn’t want to be there, and I would’ve done anything to be sitting there with them, dying. On each team, whether we are running or whatever we do, I just want us to have a good time with whatever we do. I just want to soak it all in, and not take a minute for granted.”
She was able to cheer on her girls from the sidelines, and now Macy can continue that role on the playing field as well.