Heading into the 2022 Bradley soccer season, redshirt sophomore Reed Rogers was named captain and one of the crucial pillars of head coach Jim DeRose’s vision. So far, he has only missed one game and has started each game he’s played in.
Yet, his new responsibility and impact on the field might not have happened at all if it wasn’t for his persistence to play the sport he loves.
Despite playing a multitude of sports at the youth level, Rogers’ passion for soccer came from one of his coaches, who happened to be his best friend’s dad.
“The passion [my friend’s dad] showed for the sport, I never saw that with football or baseball,” Rogers said. “And when you have someone that’s coaching you that is passionate, it shows you the different nuances of the game.”
From Jacksonville, Ill., to the capital city of Springfield, Rogers made his way to bigger and better clubs in order to develop his game. His most important club before heading into college was Central Illinois United. Located in Pekin, Central Illinois United is where Rogers was eventually recruited for Bradley’s soccer team.
However, Rogers’ exciting new college journey was put on hold before it even started.
“It’s kind of been a cursed career so far coming into Bradley,” Rogers said. “[In] literally my first experience meeting the trainer, I had some ankle pain before I even committed to Bradley.”
During the summer before his first season with the Braves, Rogers had his ankle examined for what he thought was tendinitis: a minor inflammation of a tendon. But, after multiple tests, he found out that he actually had a stress fracture in his talus, a rare injury that results in many athletes being unable to regain their full abilities.
“Before I even met the team I was on a scooter and in a cast for the entire first semester,” Rogers said. “Part of the reason that this injury occurred was because of how I run.”
Knowing this, Rogers was faced with the difficult task of relearning how to walk to prevent further complications in the future. Making matters even worse, his calf shrunk.
“By the time I was out of the cast, my calf had shrunk and it was in insane atrophy,” Rogers said. “As I relearned to walk, I had practices where I’m just watching my teammates die on a track while I was just walking around.”
After the two-month long procedure, Rogers was finally able to start training normally again with his new running style. However, another setback complicated his return to normality.
“As soon as I started to get back into that running progression, we got sent home for COVID,” Rogers said.
Despite all of the setbacks, the redshirt sophomore persevered, and it’s rare to not see him on the soccer field with his Bradley teammates nowadays. This season, Rogers has accumulated the fourth-most minutes played with 1,098, a huge growth from last season’s 656 minutes on the field. Rogers was also able to net a goal to his name and assisted two other Bradley goals.
Not all wounds heal completely though, and Rogers still deals with some pain from time to time. Despite that, he insists his experiences have made him stronger.
“I think I have gotten a new perspective on injuries,” Rogers said. “In previous years when I was in high school, if I had any pain I would sit out, but now I’m just happy to be able to walk.”
