Athlete Feature: Cadence Kline
For June 2021, we’re excited to announce our new Athlete of the Month. She’s currently a Junior in high school and has been playing soccer since she was 3 years old. Cadence was nominated for this month’s Athlete of the Month feature by Coach Sterling, who she’s been working with for over a year now on her journey of recovering from an ACL injury.
Here’s what we’ve gathered from our interview with Cadence:
Cadence’s Athletic Journey
Cadence is currently a Junior in high school! She’s been playing soccer since she was 3 years old and, in her free time, enjoys doing water sports like wake surfing and wakeboarding.
Her Greatest Accomplishments
One of the biggest accomplishments that she is proud of was her comeback after an ACL injury. She is proud that she was able to recover correctly while also improving her strength and speed along the way. Recovering from an ACL injury can be a hard journey, but she is proud that she was able to step back on the soccer field, in the end, stronger than she was before her injury.
Her Greatest Challenges
Cadence’s biggest challenge happened at the beginning of 2020 when she tore her ACL. After surgery, her road to recovery was a 9-month long period that challenged her physically and mentally. Physically, Cadence was limited in the movements and exercises that she could do and spent a considerable amount of time reteaching her knee certain movements she was able to do before her injury. The mental challenge was introduced as she sat out of soccer for the duration of her recovery process. As someone who has been playing soccer since she was 3 years old, sitting out for the season can be strenuous and challenge an athlete’s mental toughness.
When Team Speed Joined the Journey
Cadence began training with us 5 years ago. She originally started training with her soccer team at Real Colorado and private training with Coach Joe. After her ACL injury last year, she transferred to private training with Coach Sterling for injury-specific training to recover.
Her goals when she first started training with Coach Sterling were ultimately to help recover properly from surgery while also building strength and maintaining fitness. Her ultimate goal was to come back from recovery stronger than before. Coach Sterling worked with her to reach those goals by connecting with her physical therapists and basing her training on the exercises she was allowed to do. He also worked with her to gain muscle and fitness stamina while making sure she was doing it correctly based on her recovery stage. “He pushed me to my limits, but this allowed me to be stronger than ever when I stepped back on the soccer field.”
Goals
The values that drive Cadence are leadership, a hard work ethic, and persistence.
"Sterling’s Team Speed has aligned with those values as the staff is super friendly, and also knows when to push me to be the greatest I can be which displays their dedication and leadership. They also make sure that I am close to or reach my goals through specific training based on my needs which shows that [they] have a great work ethic towards my goals and are very consistent with making sure those goals are achieved.”
Cadence’s goal now is to continue her soccer career in college. Another goal is to continue to get stronger and increase fitness to help to prevent any other injuries while also working to be the best player on the field.
What Cadence Wants to Say to Other Athletes with Big Dreams
Cadence’s advice to athletes that experience injury when trying to achieve their big goals would be to “look at the little wins within the recovery process rather than looking at the negatives and what you are missing out on. The recovery process is full of challenges, but continue to work hard and recover properly. Overcoming the challenges that the injury presented will help you become a better player both physically and mentally."
If you’re interested in learning more about increasing your sports performance, inquire here for more information on how we can help you achieve your goals, too.