The sound of cleats tearing up cold, wet, morning grass is a sound that Keegan Murphy remembers well and still sometimes hears in his dreams. Of course, he does, he lived it for almost 10 years. Every day, every night and so many weekends were spent practicing, traveling, or playing. Rain or shine, he and his teammates stepped onto the pitch and left it all on the field, playing for the team on the front of their jerseys, not the names on the back. He was approached by plenty of programs to play in college. A goaltender, standing just shy of six feet tall and with quick reflexes, he was bound to be a solid addition to any team. That was his future until a lousy block ruined his chances. He became part of the 0.4% of high school boys soccer players that sustain a sport-specific injury according to the CDC. A torn labrum had stopped the netminder in his tracks.
“He dropped immediately to the ground,” his mother, Sharon Murphy, explained as she remembered that day. “I didn’t hear him make any sound but he stayed on the ground for a long time. He got up, walked to the sidelines with his right arm resting at his side and the trainers started working on him. He never went back into the game.”
What Murphy and his family would soon find out was that he had completely torn his right labrum while also doing some serious damage to his left. He couldn’t lift his arms above his chest, let alone catch and dive for soccer balls. His college soccer career was over before it had actually started.
“I mourned the game. The career that I had built. The game that I loved. I was sad,” the current college sophomore explained. “I had played this sport for such a long time and it got ripped away from me. I think it would’ve been different if I had chosen to step away but I didn’t choose. I was forced to leave.” He explained that it wasn’t a depression that he fell into but rather a sort of discomfort and confusion about where he stood and who he was. “I had no idea what to do with myself. I lost part of my identity. I had always been an athlete and I was being told that I may never be able to function the same way again.” That was about to change though. As the door on one career closed, another opened.
Over the course of a year, Murphy rehabbed and strengthened the muscles around his torn right labrum, staving off surgery for a little bit longer. He was ready to be an athlete again. His spot in the soccer lineup, both at his high school and on his club roster, was gone but he wasn’t that upset. He had found a new endeavor to take up his time; cheerleading. Murphy had friends on the team and they had invited him to an open gym. He and a few other friends said sure, why not, they needed something to pass the time and had no plans that night. He had found it. The door had opened to his future, even if he hadn’t quite realized it yet.
“I saw it as a way to continue to rehab my shoulder, get used to using my shoulders the way they were meant to be used again and spend time with my friends. I didn’t go into it with the desire to turn it into anything more than a way to pass the time and have fun.” After a while, Murphy grew to love the time he was spending with his friends and had found a place again where he felt like himself. As he left for college, he started looking toward the future. He was already slated to attend the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee the following fall and decided to find out if he could continue his newfound passion.
“Once I realized that the University of Tennessee cheer team was having a tryout I thought about cheering in college. I picked the school first and then picked cheer. I wasn’t going somewhere to cheer. I was going to a school and I had the option to cheer. It was a happy accident,” Murphy said with a slight smile on his face. He was obviously very pleased it worked out the way that it did.
Now, almost four years past the injury that ended his original path, he said he couldn’t see a better way for this to have all worked out. “I’m a part of my University. I get to cheer on my school and have been part of some of the coolest moments in the history of UT.”
His most memorable? “So far, beating Alabama,” he said beaming with pride, almost unable to contain his excitement over the Tennessee football team’s accomplishment last month. “Being on the field as students jumped over the wall. It was awesome.” When asked if he participated in the toppling of the goalposts, he laughed a bit but said no, explaining that he was worried about repercussions. He was mostly just happy and proud to be part of such an important moment for the University. “I saw the goalposts being carried out of Neyland. They just went right past me.”
Even with all of the excitement that comes with having a front-row seat to a historic Volunteer football season and the opportunity to be part of a three-peat national championship, Murphy is still not quite sure what his future holds.
“Probably another surgery after nationals in January. I had the right labrum repaired after the season last year so I guess it’s probably time to fix the left now too.” He does admit though that it rarely bothers him anymore and has weighed the idea of putting the second surgery off.
Despite all of the happiness he has experienced since he stepped back from soccer, he admitted that sometimes it’s hard. “I miss soccer sometimes but I wouldn’t go back and change anything because it got me to where I am.”
Originally Published: March 2023 - Original Work
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