Playing at an indoor soccer tournament on January 28, 2023, Emerson Shine and an opposing player from Ringold suddenly hit the ball at the same time. When hitting the ball, Emerson’s femur on her right leg snapped, and Shine suddenly felt a shock up her leg. “I remember screaming for my dad, then just blacking out,” Shine said.
Shine faced the injury during her 8th-grade season. After Shine, mentally and physically still facing challenges such as, her knee giving her issues, and having to get it looked at every once in a while when it starts bothering her. She still tries her hardest to excel in her sport.
Starting at the age of one, Emerson has always been one to kick the ball around her yard. Her first competitive season, she played for Loyalhanna United when she was three. Shine played forward, which would take her up the field and be able to score goals. She made her first friends playing for Lotalhanna, and to this day, is still friends with some.
Carrying throughout her years of playing Shine then moved on to play for Beadling Soccer Club during the 3rd to 5th grade. Then moved to the Elite Pittsburgh Riverhounds from 6th-10th grade. At her final club team, Shine has just started her first year with Century Football Club in Pittsburgh.
While playing for the Riverhounds, Shine’s life changed. The injury impacted Shine’s growth. The break was on her right growth plate, causing her right leg to be an inch shorter than her left.
Having surgery on February 7, 2023, three days before her birthday, Shine had to go through recovery to be back to playing. “The process was hard,” Shine said. Going through lots of physical therapy and work outside of everything took time. By doing lots of band work to build up muscle and stretches, Shine gets her leg strong again.
“I wanted to give up at times,” Shine added.
She continued to work hard because soccer is the sport she loved and strived for. Shine built up strength to heal her leg because she didn’t want to show she was weak.
But it wasn’t the only problem Shine faced during this time. While being on crutches, Emerson was not crutching properly, causing her foot to drag on the ground. Dragging her foot caused Shine’s ankle to lock up, not being able to put her foot down, so Shine had to then retrain her ankle and have her whole leg stay straight during the difficult process.
Going through an injury during a sport is difficult, especially when it’s more than just a sport. “I felt sad that I couldn’t play; it was basically my life,” Shine stated.
In August 2023, Shine was able to start training by passing the ball around the field, but was not able to do hardcore practices yet.
In November 2023, Shine was back and ready to play her freshman year of Lady Cat soccer. Getting to play again was a relief, and all of her hard work finally paid off. “You can’t always take what you have for granted,” Shine said.
This injury impacted her mentally, not just physically. Sometimes, still worrying about her knee can take a toll on her mind, especially when it still physically bothers her to this day, but she still has to push through the pain to play the game. Emerson Shine is a skilled athlete when it comes to soccer, becoming first team All-Section her junior and sophomore year, first team All Big during her junior and sophomore year, and 1st team All-WPIAL this year.
