FILE PHOTO
Kelly Look.
By Harold Rivera
In 2008, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was poised to follow up an MVP season and a trip to the Super Bowl with a team that was built to contend for a championship. But it all came to a halt when Brady tore his ACL and MCL just minutes into the new season, forcing him to miss the rest of the ‘08 campaign.
Lynnfield native Kelly Look shares a similar story. After a successful junior year at Lynnfield High School that saw her team win the 2014 Eastern Massachusetts Championship in soccer and make a state tournament appearance in basketball, Look had a number of reasons to look forward to being a senior in 2015. She was a captain of both teams, and was ready to go out on top in each sport.
But, much like Brady, her plans to give it her all as a senior came to a sudden — and painful — halt. While playing basketball in the North Shore Girls Summer Basketball League last summer, Look heard a pop in her leg as she came down after jumping to catch a pass.
She immediately began to think about how the injury could threaten her ability to compete her senior year.
“The second it happened I was able to hear a ‘pop’ sound,” Look recalled. “I said ‘no, not my senior year’.”
Initially, doctors told Look that the damage she suffered in her leg showed no signs of a major injury. But after getting an MRI, Look learned the bad news.
“I got looked at by two doctors and both said it didn’t seem like a major injury” Look said. “After a week of sitting out of sports, I was told it was my ACL. I was totally crushed.”
Lynnfield soccer coach Mark Vermont said he shared a similar feeling when he found out about Look’s injury.
“I was just devastated for her,” Vermont said. “I know how much she cares about the team. I know how much she wanted to lead the team as a captain her senior year. It was just devastating.”
Look underwent surgery to repair the damage from the torn ACL in August. After finishing surgery, she was treated with a visit from her Lynnfield soccer team teammates.
She credited her teammates, coaches and family for building a support system that made it easier to get through the injury.
“My support system was the reason why I had such a positive attitude,” Look said. “My friends always tried to include me in everything they did.”
She added, “I’m just lucky because without these people I don’t think I would have been as positive as I was.”
Look noted that even though she couldn’t play, she still learned a lot about soccer and basketball from watching on the sidelines and found a new passion along the way.
“The biggest change was that I learned a lot more from the sidelines,” Look said. “I was kind of like an assistant coach. My teammates were coming to me asking me for advice and it was great to see them improve. I was glad to feel like I was part of the team even though I wasn’t physically out there.”
Vermont, who coached Look for two seasons at Lynnfield, said coaching would be a great fit for her.
“I think she’d make a tremendous coach,” Vermont said. “She’s a people person and a great motivator. Nobody wants to have an injury but I think she learned a lot about herself. You learn a lot when you’re faced with adversity and I think she learned a lot about the game that’ll help her moving forward.”
Look still attends physical therapy sessions to help her repair the damage she sustained to her ACL, as she still struggles to fully extend her leg.
She’s also made her way back to the soccer field, in hopes of earning a spot on the women’s team at Endicott College, where she’ll be attending in the fall after graduating from Lynnfield High in June.
“I chose Endicott because of the community there,” Look said. “I can relate to the people there. They do their best to make you feel welcome. I know friends who go there and they love it.”
Although her high school career didn’t end the way she’d hoped, Look still looks back on her days as a high school athlete with the same positive attitude she used to motivate her teammates during her injury.
“It was unbelievable,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better career. I had some incredible teammates and got to play with some of my best friends. I learned to be ok with my injury. Obviously I wanted to play but I couldn’t have asked for a better career.”