After missing the majority of her first two seasons due to injuries, junior Rachel Zingerman is grateful to be healthy and back on the softball field. PHOTO CREDIT: gorhody.com
In 2020, a misguided practice swing threw URI softball player Rachel Zingerman into a spiral of rehab sessions and self-doubt that led her to question what her future in the sport was.
The injuries, a torn labrum and several other serious upper arm injuries, sidelined her for the majority of her freshman and sophomore seasons as she slowly worked to get back onto the field.
“My freshman year, I was going to hit an outside pitch and I tried pulling it against our number one pitcher [at the time], Sarah Gunderson, and in that moment I tore my labrum, had rotator cuff issues, bicep issues,” Zingerman recalled. “Basically everything that went wrong kinda went wrong.”
Despite several attempts to return to the field in 2021, Zingerman’s sophomore season proved to be yet another year of setbacks as a premature attempt to return to play led to further injuries.
“I tried coming back too early, pushed it, and ended up hurting my bicep again, my rotator cuff and everything again,” Zingerman said. “I had to do a few Cortisone shots to try to make it through last year, but unfortunately I couldn’t do it. So I had to accept my role on the bench and be a supporter.”
After countless visits to the doctor, different physical therapists and discussions with athletic training and coaching staff, Zingerman recovered and now is back on the field.
But how did she get here?
According to Head Coach Whitney Goldstein, her relentless commitment and perseverance brought her to where she is today.
“She really said, ‘I want to commit everything’, and we just had this long talk and so I think her mental toughness, her patience with herself was the most important thing she could have because, you know, there’s always gonna be urges,” Goldstein said. “She did such a good job of staying within what we were asking her, which is a really mentally hard thing to do as well, especially for a driven Division I athlete like herself.”
For an athlete like Zingerman, the stress that comes with such a serious injury is not only physical. The mental burden is just as challenging. Years of physical therapy and uncertainty over her future in softball proved to be a huge challenge for Zingerman.
“I’ve been doing [physical therapy] for like three years now,” Zingerman said. “At first, it was just mentally exhausting hearing, ‘Oh you can come back’, then getting rejected and all these different things. Seeing three different doctors, many physical therapists — it was very tough.”
Despite the challenges, Zingerman never stopped working. Even when things didn’t look good, she credited her teammates, coaches, and friends for helping her fight through.
“I think URI has a great community and staff,” Zingerman said. “I’ve met some of my best friends and they’ve always been there for me. The coaching staff has been nothing but great, especially coach Whitney. She’s always been there for me when I’m mentally down. And then, overall just my mom has always been the person that I always call when I’m having a bad day, she’s just always on my side, so I give it all to my mom.”
According to both Zingerman and Goldstein, having a support system in place for injured athletes is absolutely essential and was one of the main reasons that Rachel was so successful in coming back.
“It’s very important when you do have an injury, that players understand there is support, that there are open lines of communication, so it’s just really an open door policy,” Goldstein said. “I think it’s really important that that line of support is there for any player with an injury because it can be an alone experience sometimes if you don’t have the proper support.”
With years of hard work to get to where she is today, Rachel Zingerman is taking full advantage of her junior season. She ranks fifth on the team in batting average (.240), fourth in hits (18) and second on the team with 10 runs scored. She says her injury has given her new outlook on the game and what it has given her throughout the years.
“Now that I have the opportunity, I’m just gonna keep going for it,” Zingerman said. “I never know when my last game is gonna be so might as well just go out there and give it my all everyday for my teammates.”