OCHS teen fights through disappointment, rehab, gains new perspective
OCEAN CITY — Madelyn Adamson feels like she’s letting her teammates down.
She’s dead wrong, of course, but when you began your athletic career in first grade and had been psyching yourself up for your senior year at Ocean City High School, being forced to sit and watch can be more painful than her torn ACL.
This fall there was no field hockey.
Adamson, nickname Mads, started playing that sport in clinics and pickup games at the Sports & Civic Center in third grade, then on teams at Ocean City Intermediate School. She got her first varsity time as a freshman at OCHS before becoming a stalwart starting defender.
This is no basketball this winter.
She started on the hardcourt in first grade, got starting time as a freshman in high school and was a starter as a sophomore when the team won the South Jersey Group III championship.
There also won’t be much of a spring season of anything, no track or AAU basketball. (She alternated.)
Adamson’s woes began last July while playing summer league basketball.
“It was just a weeknight game and I went down in the second half. It wasn’t fun,” she said Feb. 5 before her team’s senior night game against Vineland High School.
Did she know it was bad?
“I felt a pop, so I kinda knew but I was in denial and hoping for the best, but when it happened it was like, ‘I’m probably done.’ The next day I went to see Dr. (Bradford) Tucker at Rothman (Institute). He said, ‘It’s torn. You’re done.’ That was rough.”
She had torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the tissue that connects the tibia to the femur and helps keep knees stable. It takes a year to fully recover from the injury.
“It’s been really hard physically, not being able to work out and play and have fun. Mentally, too, it’s been rough to sit and watch all my teammates have fun, especially senior year when it’s supposed to be the big one,” Adamson said.
“I just want to get out there. I feel like I’m not doing anything. I can only give so many high-fives. Even now, as I’m progressing and doing more. Maybe next week I’ll do drills, shooting and stuff, but as I get closer I’ll be, ‘I’m good. I’m fine. Put me in.’”
Adamson knows they won’t.
She has spent months of rehabilitation work that continues with Ryan Buccafurni and Nancy Webber at Peak Performance in Egg Harbor Township. “They’re amazing. I love them. They are great people and I wouldn’t be where I am without them,” she said.
Still, coaches aren’t going to rush the process lest she re-injure herself.
Although she feels she is letting her teammates down, deep inside she knows that isn’t the case. Her coaches know that, too.
“I’ve learned a lot, gained a lot of perspective,” Adamson said. “That’s been the trade-off of it. I’ve become like a mini coach on the sideline. That’s been like a silver lining.”
“Madelyn was a great asset to our backfield. She was an excellent outletter, with stick skills to move the ball upfield and kickstart our offense,” said Kelsey Burke, the OCHS field hockey coach.
uncontested layup to start her Senior Night game. She didn’t play in the game.
“Even while sidelined by injury, her presence was still felt throughout our program. She was always at practices and games, working hard on her physical therapy,” Burke said. “Madelyn is a leader; she connects with her teammates and exemplifies a student-athlete.”
“She is the nicest kid you could ever want to meet. She gives us everything even though she can’t play,” OCHS head basketball coach Trish Henry said. “That comes from her upbringing. She has a great family, a great support system. She’s been unreal to this team.”
“She was 17, now 18 years old. She took a big punch in the face. It’s a shame it happened to a kid as great as her,” Henry added.
The coach knows Adamson feels like she’s been a disappointment to the team, but also that her teammates feel like they’re disappointing Adamson.
She admits not having Adamson in the lineup has been a huge loss.
“We know we didn’t fill that void, but (the players) have done the best they can and they’re always concerned with letting her down. She’s always concerned she’s let them down. No one let anyone down. That’s life,” she said.
“I’ve known this kid from third or fourth grade. I’ve been coaching her in either clinics or other stuff. She’s been a valuable part of my life. We just try to make the best of the situation. She’s really good at that. She’s super positive,” Henry said.
She can also do things the coaches can’t.
“What she’s done is she’s always honest with them,” the coach said about the interaction between Adamson and her players.
“She’s always supportive, but she tells them what they need to hear. It’s different coming from a peer than from an adult. She’s been a valuable asset to us because she can say some things players might get upset if we said it, but they’re not fazed by her. It motivates them. It gives them energy.”
As for that void on the team, George McNally, an assistant basketball coach, said he watched Adamson make five three-point shots in a row at a recent practice. Laughing, he joked with her, “Please stop because you’re reminding me of what we’re missing.”
College basketball and
an honor at Rutgers
Adamson was worried initially about athletic scholarship offers, but coaches told her they weren’t worried about it because athletes rebound from that injury.
“I was a little nervous at first, but after I talked to them it was a comfort knowing it didn’t matter,” she said. Adamson got recruited.
She’s heading to Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she’ll play basketball under former OCHS standout and longtime college coach Stephanie (Vanderslice) Gaitley, who also coached Adamson the one year when she was between college gigs. That was the year the team won the South Jersey Group III championship.
“I’m so excited; I love her,” Adamson said about Gaitley. “I love the family. Playing basketball with her is an experience I will never trade for anything. It was such a great year and I’m really excited to be back with her.”
Recently, Adamson was chosen to represent OCHS for National Girls and Women in Sports Day at Rutgers University. Every school in New Jersey was able to have a representative there.
“Being recognized is always great and having not been able to play it reinforces that I’m still an athlete, I’m still capable of this stuff,” she said. “It was nice to have that as a reminder that I’m an athlete despite not being able to play for a year.”
Athletic Director Michael Pellegrino made it clear Adamson was an easy choice, saying she “is such a role model; she is the student who stood out,
“From the moment I got here, she would ask for gym time on her own, she would come in to get ready for her season. She worked hard. She’s been a leader inside the classroom, outside the classroom, on the floor,” he said.
“She’s been the most genuine person coming in with honest opinions. And as an athletic director, that’s what you want from a student-athlete,” Pellegrino said. “She’s grown so much. It was a huge setback for her but I know she’s going to go do amazing things. This will just be a little hiccup along her path.”
Having support and
gaining perspective
Adamson credited her family as “my rock, my support system,” and Ocean City Primary School teacher Carrie Merritt, the conditioning trainer for the field hockey team, for added perspective.
Adamson is the oldest daughter of Tom and Jill Adamson of Ocean City. Her sister Casey is a sophomore who also plays field hockey and basketball, and her youngest sister, Lila, is an eighth-grader at Ocean City Intermediate School.
“My mom and I cried in the doctor’s office when I heard the news, but it has always been positive, focus on what’s in front of you, what’s next, getting back. It’s never been a depressing environment,” Adamson said. “I’ve obviously had my moments, but my parents have been there to pick me up. They were hard on me, saying. ‘You need to stick to rehab, you need to work hard. You can’t slack off.’ They’ve held me accountable. I wouldn’t have gotten through this without them.”
Through the injury she realized there is a community of other young people, especially young female athletes, who have gone through the same thing.
“It’s made me appreciate the time I’ve had with my teammates on the field and off the field,” she said. “Honestly, one of my role models and a good friend, Carrie Merritt, we’ve talked throughout this. She really stressed the gift and privilege of movement, not being able to run, not being able to play, work out. Simple things. It makes you appreciate being able to play sports at the level I have been. And at the level I’m going to.”
Her advice to others is “to just cherish every moment, have fun with your teammates because this is a privilege and you don’t realize that until it’s taken away from you.”
Adamson hopes to pass her Return to Play test in a couple of weeks because it has been almost six months since her operation. She still won’t be able to go 100 percent because it takes a full year to recuperate from the injury, “but I’ll be ready to go.”
She is getting excited about the prospect.
“I’ve been visualizing when I step back on the court, but I’m probably going to be a little nervous at first. Everyone is. I really trust my rehab program so I’ll be really excited to be back,” she said.
“It’s not going to be Ocean City basketball, but it’s a new chapter.”
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
