RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Carlyn Vaupel is a 2024 outfielder from Pittsburgh, Pa., who competes for Steel City Athletics Lantzy and North Allegheny Senior High School.
In 45 games for Steel City Athletics Lantzy in the fall of 2022 and the spring of 2023, she batted .354 with an on-base percentage of .448. The speedy outfielder also had 17 steals and five extra base hits.
Her presence in the Steel City Athletics Lantzy lineup was not a given though as she battled back from a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff. But return she did after surgery and eight months of physical therapy.
Vaupel shared her road to recovery with Extra Inning Softball.
*****
The biggest challenge I faced during recovery was staying motivated. I honestly felt like I was living the same day every day. Get up, go to school, and then go to physical therapy. I felt like putting in zero effort in school and with friendships because I felt like I had lost my identity. I lost the ability to play the one thing that kept me wanting to keep pushing and getting better. I also really struggled with self-pity and was constantly questioning why this had happened to me.
From this experience, I have learned that I am much stronger than I thought. After surgery, I had to overcome so many obstacles and barriers. For example, I had to get back to 100 percent while all of my teammates got better and were staying healthy in the offseason. This experience taught me too always give my very best in whatever I am doing because you never know what tomorrow brings. You could wake up tomorrow and never be able to play again.
My greatest supporters were my parents and physical therapists. My parents constantly drove me everywhere, such as therapy sessions and my high school games because I was not cleared to drive a car. My parents also believed in me from day one and they were always by my side in everything. They were the first people I saw when I woke up from surgery and when the reality hit that I may never be where I was before getting hurt. Â My physical therapists pushed me in a physical way, when I would tell them I was too tired or sore to do this exercise they would up the weight and repetition of that certain exercise. They became my family for the longest and hardest eight months.
Some advice that I want to give to other injured players is… YOU ARE YOUR BIGGEST ENEMY! Stop comparing yourself to other players! You are already mentally stronger in a way that other people aren’t. They don’t know the strength, grit, and determination that it takes to come from a life-changing experience, so please, take it easy on yourself and never stop working to get better because it will all pay off in the end!
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