Heaberlin recovers, back with U18 WNT

Heaberlin recovers, back with U18 WNT
June 6, 2011

To say Bryane Heaberlin is driven is the understatement of the year.

The goalkeeper from the Tampa-St. Petersburg area had risen through the ranks of her Clearwater Chargers club team and U.S. Youth Soccer’s Region III ODP team to become the #1 goalkeeper in her age group. She was the first choice netminder for the U20 Women’s National Team as it began its cycle for the 2012 World Cup, and Heaberlin had committed before her junior year in high school to the North Caroline Tar Heels.

It could have all come unraveled on Jan. 3 when Heaberlin, playing for her high school team, was the victim of a hard foul that sent her to the hospital with a broken tibia and fibula. As she immediately began questioning doctors about how soon she might return, she was hearing talk about being out for about a year.

A year,as in 12 months.

As in, according to her, way too long.

girls club soccer player bryane heaberlinBryane Heaberlin
Heaberlin had places to go and people to meet, and she wasn’t going to let a little thing like the shattering of both bones in her lower right leg get in the way of that.

“I just said there’s no way I’m not going to be playing soccer for a year,” the determined goalkeeper said.

She meant it.

This week, just over five months later, Heaberlin is in training camp for the U18 Women’s National Team in Chula Vista, California under the watchful eye of April Heinrichs, who just happens to be the head coach of the U20 WNT as well. In this relatively short period of time, Heaberlin has gone through surgery, rehabilitation, a return to competitive match play, a recall to the youth national team setup, and a return to the #1 position in our Players To Watch 2012 Girls Top 100 ranking.

Click here for the full 2012 Girls Top 100 list.

She credits doctors, physical therapists, encouragement from coaches, friends and family, but it’s for an observer hard to not be impressed mainly with her considerable drive.

“I’ve always worked hard, but this whole process has definitely been a test of my mental strength,” Heaberlin said. “It tested my ability to prove I can do something. I took it as a personal challenge to be back on the field as soon as possible.”   

Two days after the injury, Heaberlin underwent surgery, where a titanium rod was put in her tibia and two screws into her fibula, one near her knee and the other near her ankle.

No cast was used, which she noted meant there would not be as much muscle atrophy. She was in a wheelchair for 10 days, then started using a walker, then walking with crutches just three weeks after the operation. Soon she shifted to one crutch, all the while pushing the envelope on how much weight she could put on her injured leg despite the pain.

Three times a week she was undergoing rehabilitation with Brian Harter, who happened to be a former player for her club. Before she was cleared to run on land, Harter had her using an underwater treadmill, slowly lowering the water level to gradually equate the experience to on-land running.  The rehab period lasted 2 ½ months overall.

She said “running” may be a generous term for what she was doing when initially cleared, but over the past two months she has gotten back to normal mobility.

Normal, that is, for a top-class goalkeeper who is able to pull of out-of-this-world saves due to her explosiveness, agility and acrobatic qualities in goal.

All the while she was working hard in the weight room to improve upper body strength, plus doing handling drills. The work on explosiveness began at the beginning of April. She began playing some scrimmage matches with her club team and then a real match with Chargers. She is confident she has regained sharpness and an even greater strength and mobility than she had prior to the injury. She also notes that her kicking is stronger for some reason (she kicks with her right).

I’ve got golf clubs for legs, and now it’s a driver,” she joked.

She admitted to being nervous, but not scared, upon her return to competitive action.

“I just wanted to show that I was back at 100 percent,” she said. “When I started to train I was compensating with my left foot some, not running and cutting equally on both legs, but now I know I’m there.”

Her immediate goal is to perform well enough this week to earn a call to the U20 WNT camp in July. This is still a year before next season’s World Cup, but after the past five months, who would bet against her?

She said the coaching staff at North Carolina has encouraged her during the injury, telling her that when she enrolls at UNC in January (she plans to graduate early this December), not to worry if she is a bit rusty due to the injury, because they will help her work through it.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’m not going to be rusty.’”

That’s Bryane Heaberlin – driven and then some.

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