<\/p>\n
Plano East varsity soccer player Aliya Jacob, center, wears a knee brace as she is introduced onto the field prior to a soccer game against Rock Hill, Jan. 30, 2026, in Murphy, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East High School soccer player Sofia Tepichian works to strengthen her knees at the Movement Science Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco, Texas, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East varsity soccer player Aliya Jacob wears a knee brace as she gathers for prayer with teammates prior to a soccer game against Rock Hill, Jan. 30, 2026, in Murphy, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East High School soccer player Sofia Tepichian, right, has her movement analyzed with help from sports biomechanics researcher Sophia Ulman at the Movement Science Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco, Texas, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East varsity soccer player Aliya Jacob’s knee brace, left, is visible as she attacks Rock Hill’s Adalina Flores during a soccer game, Jan. 30, 2026, in Murphy, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East varsity soccer player Aliya Jacob, left, controls the ball against Rock Hill’s Hanna Schinner during a soccer game, Jan. 30, 2026, in Murphy, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
Cameras analyze Plano East High School soccer player Sofia Tepichian, right, as she walks at the Movement Science Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco, Texas, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East varsity soccer head coach Cristy Cooley reacts during a soccer game against Rock Hill, Jan. 30, 2026, in Murphy, Texas.<\/p>\n
Julio Cortez\/AP<\/p>\n
Plano East High School soccer player Sofia Tepichian, left, is helped by sports biomechanics researcher Sophia Ulman at the Movement Science Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco, Texas, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
A skeletal representation of high school soccer player Sofia Tepichian is seen at the Movement Science Laboratory at Scottish Rite for Children in Frisco, Texas, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n
LM Otero\/AP<\/p>\n
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Sofia Tepichin was about 30 minutes into her club soccer team practice in October when she spotted a fast-approaching defender. She tapped the ball away and hopped over the defender’s outstretched foot, came down awkwardly, and heard a \u201cpop.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She immediately fell to the ground, pain shooting through her left knee and knew it wasn’t good. It was, she said, \u201cheartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd I knew personally that I tore my ACL,\u201d Tepichin said.<\/p>\n
Tepichin joined the growing ranks of female high school athletes tearing their anterior cruciate ligament, a devastating knee injury that researchers are pressing the sports world to take more seriously.<\/p>\n
Decades of research on prevention methods is available, but parents, researchers and trainers say that teams, coaches and leagues aren’t doing enough to protect the girls and educate parents.<\/p>\n
High school female athletes are most vulnerable<\/p>\n
Sports fans hear often about high-profile athletes like U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn tearing their ACLs, and many ACL injuries are chalked up to bad luck or a part of sports that will continue to happen at all competitive levels.<\/p>\n
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Still, high school-age female athletes suffer these injuries at much higher rates than their male counterparts \u2014 up to eight times more likely, one study says \u2014 and adults, most often in noncontact situations in sports that require fast changes in direction, researchers say.<\/p>\n
Biomechanics researchers, trainers and physical therapists say there are pre-workout warm ups and strengthening routines \u2014 such as FIFA 11+ or PEP \u2014 that can at least reduce the risk of an injury that takes such a high physical and mental toll on young athletes.<\/p>\n
But, they say, most coaches lack training or expert help, and high school girls compete in settings with far fewer resources than the professional and collegiate levels. As a result, risk-reduction routines are rarely included in day-to-day coaching curricula and practices.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe real crime in this is that the data has been out there for 25 years,\u201d said Holly Silvers-Granelli, a physical therapist and biomechanics researcher who advises athletes, professional teams and major sports leagues on injury prevention. \u201cPeople are clamoring for answers, and the answers are largely there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The trendline of ACL injuries isn’t entirely clear, but the National ACL Injury Coalition \u2014 formed by the Aspen Institute and the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York \u2014 said its analysis of data from high school athletic trainers showed that the average annual ACL injury rate for high school athletes grew almost 26% from 2007 to 2022.<\/p>\n
The rate for girls grew more than 32%, compared to 14.5% for boys, it said.<\/p>\n
On their own to recover<\/p>\n
When they get injured, high school athletes and their parents often find themselves on their own to deal with it. ACL injuries can require surgery and a year of rehab, physical therapy and strength training, which insurance may not fully cover.<\/p>\n
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Recovery changes their routine and identity: They miss out on the camaraderie of the team and stand on the sidelines, which can be as hard as the physical trauma, parents say.<\/p>\n
Many high school athletes who tear their ACL never perform again at the same level, if they even return to the sport, the National ACL Injury Coalition says. And once injured, they carry a heightened risk of another ACL injury and long-term complications like degenerative joint disease, researchers say.<\/p>\n
The coalition has urged the sports world to treat ACL injuries like brain injuries, now that professional and youth sports have tried to improve training, rules and equipment standards to prevent and detect concussions.<\/p>\n
Sophia Gerardi, a sophomore at Pennsylvania\u2019s Apollo Ridge High School who tore her ACL during a basketball game in December, was told by her doctors that she\u2019ll forever have to wear a knee brace to play sports. She had surgery in January, will miss volleyball season and hopes to be back for next winter\u2019s basketball season.<\/p>\n
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Like many girls who tore their ACL, she didn\u2019t recall getting any ACL injury-prevention training.<\/p>\n
Surveys of coaches show that many don\u2019t know about risk-reduction programs, aren\u2019t trained to do them or aren\u2019t encouraged to learn about them, said Vince Minjares, who leads the Aspen Institute\u2019s ACL injury prevention project. Some coaches tell Minjares that it takes too much time.<\/p>\n
He hopes that\u2019s changing.<\/p>\n
\u2018What is the solution\u2019<\/p>\n
This spring, the American Youth Soccer Organization \u2014 one of major national organizations in U.S. youth soccer \u2014 will roll out new age- and stage-based neuromuscular training programs aimed at preventing ACL injuries through warm-ups.<\/p>\n
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Coaches will get a regimen of exercises in bite-sized chunks, with video instructions. The goal is to build good habits before preteens age into more physical and demanding competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest shock was that this didn\u2019t already exist,\u201d said Scott Snyder, AYSO\u2019s senior director of programs and education. \u201cEveryone I talk to says, \u2018Yeah, that makes perfect sense,\u2019 but nobody\u2019s done it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, biomechanical researchers at the Scottish Rite for Children hospital in metropolitan Dallas began providing high school teams with resources typically only available or affordable at the professional and collegiate levels.<\/p>\n
They created pre-season injury-prevention trainings, tailored for female athletes, to improve strength and movement quality. At the start of the eight-week program, each athlete gets a free motion-capture 3D-level assessment to identify weaknesses in strength, movement or balance. Another assessment at the end determines if the program reduced risk.<\/p>\n
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Future trainings could include nutrition and sleep, said Sophia Ulman, who directs the hospital’s Movement Science Laboratory.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy team and I got tired of studying \u2018why, why, why\u2019 when there\u2019s so many different possibilities to answer that question. And we wanted to move into the \u2018what is the solution,\u2019\u201d said Ulman. Other biomechanics labs in the U.S. are trying similar outreach, she said.<\/p>\n
One of the teams that participated was Plano East High School in Texas, where players \u2014 including Tepichin \u2014 had suffered a rash of ACL tears the past couple years.<\/p>\n
Cristy Cooley, Plano East’s coach, said that getting a hands-on demonstration from trained professionals in proper exercises and movement patterns makes a big difference.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s one thing talking about it,\u201d Cooley said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a totally different thing to show us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Something\u2019s got to change\u2019<\/p>\n
Like other parents, Tiffany Jacob said she learned a lot about preventing ACL injuries that she wished she had known before her daughter \u2014 East Plano sophomore Aliya Jacob \u2014 tore her ACL last February. For instance, the surgeon told them three days a week of strength training is an absolute must for soccer players.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething\u2019s got to change,\u201d Tiffany Jacob said. \u201cCoaches, clubs, something. They have to do something to prevent this because it\u2019s just such a horrible injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Aliya \u2014 who knows at least seven other female soccer players who tore an ACL, her mother said \u2014 is back playing for East Plano now. She endured twice-a-week physical therapy, the isolation of rehabilitation and, her mother said, \u201cfiguring out who you are when you\u2019re not playing soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tepichin, a high school senior, recalls her surgeon telling her to take a couple days to get all her sadness and anger out \u2014 and then devote herself to her recovery.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll miss her last year of playing high school and club team soccer. Her next time on a field could be for Saint Vincent College in Pennsylvania, where she committed to the NCAA Division III team.<\/p>\n
Tepichin has seen a sports psychologist, gotten comfort from others who underwent the surgery \u2014 her sister, her father and her friend \u2014 and found a new routine after having been constantly busy with two soccer teams and a job.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s not a day that I go that I\u2019m not working out or doing something,\u201d she said, \u201cor getting better for my health and my recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Follow Marc Levy at http:\/\/twitter.com\/timelywriter<\/a>\n<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n