There are many life-altering injuries that could happen at any moment. Megan Nowak (12) had two that changed the course of her high school tennis career. 

“My first injury, I had a lateral meniscus tear on my right knee. It wasn’t that bad, recovery was about four months and that surgery went well, recovery went well,” Nowak said. “My second injury, I tore a piece off my cartilage, and that one was a lot worse, and the recovery from that one was over six months. [It was] pretty brutal, I won’t lie. They like had to drill a hole in my knee or in the cartilage and do a micro fracture in my knee.”

After Nowak’s first injury, her emotions regarding tennis have differed following her recovery. Her determination had her ranked at number five her junior year compared to her 11th spot in her sophomore year.

“I went straight into tennis and I started playing like a lot — a lot of tennis, like eight hours a day, four to five days a week ‘cause I wanted to get really good, like I was passionate,” Nowak said. “I’ve been playing tennis since I was in third grade, but I was never serious about it until my first surgery, which is when I wanted to take it seriously.”

Nowak’s second injury was more severe and was a much greater setback compared to her first injury. 

“I was worried. After the second surgery, I was really worried because I didn’t know how my knee was gonna react to coming back, and I was just worried,” Nowak said, “but it ended up going really well, and I had a good last season.” 

For many people, sports injuries can be life-altering obstacles, and it could be very hard to jump back into something that hurt you. 

“I love sports so much,” Nowak said. “I’ve always been involved in sports throughout the community, the band, the marching band, tennis, basketball, a bunch of different sports, so I just think I was more looking for something, and tennis was that thing…”

These types of injuries could completely change the trajectory of one’s life, but Nowak decided to do what she could. 

“A lot changed for me, and I mean like a lot, like I was gonna be an aerospace engineer, like I wanted to do all this stuff…” Nowak said. “[It] also made me realize that I might want to be an EMT…I just want to help people like they helped me.”

Nowak went through pain and hardship because of her two injuries, but she ended her high school tennis career as a changed person.

“It taught me that sometimes life doesn’t always go the way you can plan it out to…You can’t predict what’s gonna happen on the way there, and that can really throw off your whole plan,” Nowak said. “It’s better to kinda just live life and not set yourself up for so many expectations, because in the end, those can just hurt you with unexpected obstacles.”