Freshman Dhaara Ponnapati feels the golf ball launch off her club as it soars through the air. Instead of happiness, she could only feel a throbbing pain overtaking her body.

“When you are trying to hit the ball, just like other sports, you have to open up your hips to give yourself space. And in that process, I twisted my knee,” Ponnapati said.

Ponnapati described it as a painful experience. Not only was she in pain, but she also did not understand what was really wrong because she said it was completely unexpected. During this injury, she said she couldn’t help but be scared especially because golf season was currently going on.

 “I was terrified. I was like, the golf season is still going on and there’s still matches that we’re gonna play in and there were matches that I was supposed to play in but I had to drop out because I was injured. I was; I am still truly terrified,” Ponnapati said.

Ponnapati was scared; however, she continued to work hard to recover with the help and encouragement of her friends. 

“She’s absolutely passionate because she talks about tennis and golf a lot and she spends a lot of time working to be better in the sports,” freshman Rhythm Kukreja, one of Ponnapati’s close friends, said.

 Her friends try their best to help her and support her for what she is passionate about.

“I would absolutely say that she is passionate about tennis and golf because I know she puts a lot of time into it after school and she talks about it a lot,” freshman Ashlyn Richmiller, another one of Ponnapati’s close friends, said. 

She has many struggles, including the healing process. However, she is doing what she can to overcome this.

“The doctor said that my kneecap is dislocated a little bit, which causes my inner ligament to be weaker. So I’m strengthening my quads and my hip and my glutes right now,” Ponnapati said.

Ponnapati expressed her feelings about wanting to get better quickly so that she can go back to playing tennis and golf. However, she said she is worried that the recovery might take a longer time than the doctor said.

“I’m very patiently, actually impatiently, waiting for my knee to heal. I’m not too sure about how long because the recovery seems like it’s being really slow right now. The doctor said to give it three more weeks, but I’m not too sure that it will actually get better than three weeks,” Ponnapati said.

She progressed and can look forward to playing again in about 2 weeks.

“She’s getting better with her knee injury. She is definitely improving. I think that eventually she will be back into the sport again,” Richmiller said.

With her effort as well as her friends and family’s encouragement she can happily get back to playing golf and tennis. Not only has this challenge helped her learn but it also helped her become a better person through it.

“She has been putting in a lot of effort so she can get better and go back to playing golf. She really enjoys it. So I think she’s really grown as a person through this,” Kukreja said.