Sports Girl has finished her first post-operation soccer season without incident! She made it to every practice and played in all 10 junior varsity games for her high school.

Sports Girl (maroon) goes for the ball in a high school girls junior varsity soccer game.

If you look closely, you can see part of Sports Girl's scar on her left knee here.

And while she may not be quite as strong competitively as she was before her knee issues began, she was mostly without pain and without worry that her knee would pop out of place throughout the intense, 7-week season. And she didn’t wear a knee brace at all!

So as we approach the one-year anniversary of her surgery coming in mid-December, I am almost ready to declare it a complete success. My only hesitation is seeing how things go on the basketball court.

You see, it was the first week of middle school basketball practice that delivered the final blow to Sports Girl’s knee issues at the end of October last year. Basketball involves more jumping and quick turning than soccer, and the hard indoor court is actually harder on Sports Girl’s knee than the soft grass soccer field even if it is sometimes uneven. Basketball shoes do provide more support and shock absorption than soccer cleats, thankfully, and we will soon be shopping for Sports Girl’s new high tops.

High school girl’s basketball won’t actually start until around Thanksgiving. Between now and then Sports Girl plans to keep running and lifting weights a few times each week at the local recreation center to stay strong and ready to play.

Sports Girl has worked hard the past 10 months to recover with physical therapy, performance training and other practices and workouts. She can’t quit now or the results of all her hard work could all but disappear in the six or seven weeks she has off in between soccer and basketball. So while Sports Girl is looking forward to a break from regular team practices these next several weeks, I know she has no intention of giving up on her physical progress.