Unsurprisingly, Sam Kerr Ruptured Her ACL
On January 7th, I opened my Instagram page to see that Sam Kerr, Australian forward, had ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament, otherwise known as an ACL, during her warm weather training in Morocco with her club, Chelsea. Honestly, I was shocked that she had been so healthy during her adult football career. While I was devastated to hear this news, especially with the Olympics coming up this summer, I was not surprised at all to hear that another athlete in women’s football had injured her ACL.
The ACL Problem
There is a massive issue with women football superstars tearing their ACLs. In the past couple of years, almost 200 players have torn or injured their ACL, many of them on high-profile teams. For example, Leah Williamson, Laura Wienrother Beth Mead, and Vivianne Miedema of Arsenal, nicknamed ACL Football Club by fans, tore their ACLs during their 2022-2023 campaign and missed last year's World Cup. Marie-Antoinette Katoto of PSG also tore her ACL in the summer of 2022. Beth, Vivianne, and Marie-Antoinette have been back for their respective club and national teams and have been playing remarkably well. It is a shame that we could not see them perform in the World Cup.
Why Does This Happen?
Women are at least 2.5 times more likely to tear their ACLs playing football than men are. Many of the issues lie within the fact that most products in football are made for men. One of the most important of them is football boots. Many boots that are marketed to women are just men’s boots in pink. There are countless physiological differences between men and women and wearing the same equipment would warrant more injuries. Academies also tend to scout boys when they are very young and girls when they are in their adolescent years. Women lose years in gaining strength and knowledge on how to avoid injuries.
Sam Kerr's Future
With all that being said, even with all of the experience that Sam Kerr has had in her youth and staying relatively uninjured during the past few years, she still fell to the fated ACL injury. I am upset to not be able to see her play during the Olympics since Australia had such an awe-inspiring World Cup campaign. I hope we will be able to see her play before the end of 2024.
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