Lacy Dagen - Oregon State Gymnastics
“Back in 2015, as I was gearing up to head to the University of Florida for my long-awaited debut as a division 1 collegiate gymnast, I tore my right ACL. I was extremely disappointed that my senior season was cut short, but mostly motivated to get healthy and return to the competition floor.”
“When I arrived in Gainesville, Florida, I was only about 5 months post-operation. Unaware of and naive about the time it takes to return to sport after ACL reconstruction, I unfortunately tore my ACL for a second time just 9 months after my first surgery. Within a week, I was back on the operating table, adding 4 more screws and 2 new ligaments to my 20-year-old knee.”
“As I slowly gained my skills back, my knee started to feel funny again. If you think about taking a straw and bending the middle back and forth -- that's what my knee felt like. After countless MRI's, a couple cortisone shots and way too many tears later, I demanded I go into surgery again. Only then did they discover that I'd split my meniscus down the middle and it needed to be stitched back together.”
“By now, I was well into my sophomore year of college, with only a single competition vault under my belt. I'd lost my love for the sport, and I'd pushed away my desires of one day becoming an NCAA gymnastics coach. Fortunately, I have an insanely supportive family. I gave up my scholarship from UF, entered the transfer portal and began my search for a new home.
With my sister already having been committed to OSU for gymnastics, we were hopeful that I still had a future within the sport. We reached out to the coaches at OSU, and they were more than happy to give me a walk-on spot on the team. I got one more surgery, just to clean up the scar tissue that'd built up from my poor rehab, and got to work.”
“My junior year was spent not only building up strength in my knee, but also re-developing the mental strength I'd lost as well. By the time senior year came around, even though the back of my head was still filled with perceived expectations and a lack of trust, I was finally starting to feel like myself again. My coaches never gave up on me, continuously treating me as more than just their athlete.”
“As a fifth-year senior, I successfully competed on both beam and vault all season. I am happy, healthy and proud of my fight. My coaches here at OSU have taught me that gymnastics is so much more than the score. They’ve taught me that it's about perseverance, chasing dreams, and enjoying every moment that you get to be with the teammates that have become sisters.”
“They’ve encouraged me to become my own kind of leader -- the kind that goes through adversity and uses her story to lead by example. Because of them, I want to be a collegiate coach again. Their person-to-person rather than person-to-athlete type of coaching inspired me to want to encourage others to expand their potential too. I wouldn't be who or where I am, literally, if it weren't for my injuries, the people who lost sight of me, and the people that never did.”
