"Unlucky" Injury Teaches Young Athlete to Never Give Up

It was the simple act of removing her shoes that created a big injury for a young athlete.  

A year ago last summer, Hartland junior Katie Singer says she was standing on one leg trying to flip off her cleats after softball practice when she lost her balance.    

“I fell and I slammed my hip into the wall,” Katie said. “It was one of the those moments where I got hurt and I thought, this is nothing.”  

At first, the 16-year-old pitcher tried to ignore the nagging pain in her hip and kept playing, but said that eventually the pain got to be too much.  

After many different doctor visits and several different diagnosis, a hip specialist was finally able to determine that Katie had too much bone in her hip socket. Her unlucky fall into the wall had shifted her hip just enough to where it started to create damage in the socket.  

Katie required surgery to fix her hip and the young softball player was forced to spend months in recovery, using crutches and wearing a brace.  

After more months spent in physical therapy, Katie and her family were fearful that her injury would prevent her from being able to pitch again.  

“The hips are very important,” she said. “You get open and then at the very end you snap your hips through and that’s what gives you your power.”  

After only two weeks of returning to pitching, however, Katie surprised herself when she tried out and made the Adidas National Future team from Michigan. Travelling to Utah this past summer, Katie and her team went up against some of the top teams from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Missouri, Colorado and Canada.

Helping her team to finish in the top 10 out of 33 teams, Katie pitched two shut out games during the tournament.

"I felt so good about myself," Katie said. "I just missed softball."

Although she was unable to make try-outs for the school team this past year, Katie will try out this spring for the high school team. And according to Katie, her “unlucky” injury has only helped her become stronger and more determined. She also says she has learned to never give up.

“The thing is you just got to keep going,” she said. “You just gotta keep telling yourself, you can do this. You work hard and it pays off in the end."

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