The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Road to Recovery: Mikayla Flores’ return to the pitch
09.04.2015 | Soccer
Redshirt freshman is already making an impact on the Longhorns’ front line after recovering from a torn ACL
They say your life can change in the blink of an eye. For Texas redshirt freshman soccer player Mikayla Flores, that blink occurred just weeks before the start of a promising collegiate playing career on the Forty Acres.
While closing out her club career with Legends FC in California during June of 2014, Flores was already excited to begin the next chapter with the Longhorns. Fate had other ideas, however, and her plans soon took a dramatic shift.
During her fifth match over what was likely an exhausting five-day period with Legends at regionals, Flores entered a match as a sub during the last 10 minutes. While dribbling routinely down the field, her right knee unexpectedly gave out, forcing her to leave the pitch. She was able to walk off under her own power, however, and thought nothing of the injury until a fateful visit to a specialist.
"Honestly, I could walk," Flores said. "I was at the gym after, up until I went to the doctor's, and then I saw my orthopedic — my PA — he just told me the news. It was really shocking, really unexpected."
When the diagnosis came back, the situation proved worse than initially thought: she had suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) that required surgery and included a meniscal root repair that would make for a longer recovery period. Once she heard the news, Flores knew she would be unable to play during her first season at Texas.
"It was hard to see the injury as a blessing in disguise," Flores said. "But I soon began to see it as an opportunity for me to come (to Texas) get comfortable and see what the team was like."
The La Verne, Calif., native wasted no time, getting right to work the day after surgery.
She spent nearly every day of that first year with the Longhorns recovering and rehabbing in the training room alongside assistant athletic trainer for soccer & women's tennis Gabe Perlaza, the individual who helped her every step of the way during the recovery process. Throughout all of the leg raises, body weight squats and sessions on the underwater treadmill, Perlaza was duly impressed with Flores' positive attitude and willingness to recover.
"She was really good at staying dialed in," Perlaza said. "She was probably one of the hardest working athletes I've ever dealt with in my career. If we could have 11 Mikaylas in terms of her work ethic on our team, it would be unbelievable."
That's not to say that the work wasn't some of the most challenging of her life. Quite the opposite actually, as Flores felt in some way as if she were starting over.
"The leg raises were the toughest," Flores said. "I couldn't even raise my leg after surgery. It was that weak, and I had lost that much muscle. I had to re-learn to walk all over again. It's been hard work."
Finally cleared this summer to put on the Burnt Orange & White as an active member of the Longhorns, Flores wasted no time making an immediate impact during the team's exhibition match against Houston Baptist on Aug. 14, scoring her first career goal in the 16th minute of a 3-0 victory at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
The hard work she put in had paid obvious dividends as her speed up the right wing allowed Flores to run right by her marker before unleashing a cannon-shot with her right foot from 15 yards into the far side netting.
That effort and Flores' infectious positive attitude in the face of such adversity definitely didn't go unnoticed by the team's coaching staff.
"Mikayla has worked so incredibly hard this past year in rehab, in the weight room or wherever she could to get an edge," Texas head coach Angela Kelly said. "Her work ethic is impeccable. She's smiling and positive, she's enjoying (the work) and she wants to produce and perform."
In addition to her role on the team, Flores is currently enrolled in the pre-med program at Texas, with a major in English, and hopes one day to become an orthopedic surgeon. The first-hand experience from tearing her ACL has only encouraged her to chase that dream with even more determination in the future.
After recovering from her injury, she returned to California during the summer of 2015 where she had the opportunity to shadow the very physician's assistant who performed the surgery on her right knee.
"I knew I wanted to go to medical school before my injury, but the job shadow was definitely a huge influence," Flores said.
Flores is eager to contribute since recovering and has now returned to the pitch with a fresh mindset and renewed vigor to seize any and all opportunities she can.
"I wouldn't take (the injury) back if I could." Flores said. "It's helped me understand not to take any moments for granted, even the little things in practice. You never know when those could get stripped away from you."
