Concussions interfere with senior’s field hockey involvement

Dedication can only do so much when the body betrays an athlete.

Senior Nidhi Vellanki understands this concept particularly well, having been left with a string of concussions and a torn ACL from playing basketball and field hockey.

Vellanki’s first concussion occurred during her freshman year while playing in a field hockey game against St. Francis High School. It wasn’t by accident.

“During a tournament I stole the ball from a girl,” Vellanki said. “She got really mad so she picked up her stick and hit it on the side of my face.”

The girl had to give the ball to the Falcons, but the penalty did not make up for Vellanki’s injury, which turned out to be serious.

For the next three weeks, she suffered migraine-like headaches and had difficulty concentrating on schoolwork.

“Sometimes your headache [from the concussion] goes away but when you try to concentrate again it comes back,” Vellanki said. “It’s like an ache in the back of your head for a long period of time.”

Over the next few years, Vellanki received several more concussions, ending with a grand total of five. Worse still, during sophomore year in field hockey, she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of her left knee.

Vellanki underwent surgery and physical therapy for her ACL only to cut her therapy sessions short by one month in order to return in time for the next field hockey season. She went on to continue playing as one of her team’s much needed defenders, support brace and all.

Unfortunately, the shortened therapy prevented the ACL’s full recovery, even keeping Vellanki from continuing in basketball after freshman year. Even now she experiences symptoms from the injured ACL.

“Technically I can run without [the support brace] so sometimes when we’re doing warm up laps or running the mile for conditioning I don’t wear it,” Vellanki said. “But if I land funny then the weird popping noise happens … it’s just really scary because sometimes I think when I don’t wear the brace, I could tear my ACL again.”

Equally crushing was the end of Vellanki’s dream to play field hockey at the college level. Before her third concussion in junior year, she was being recruited by coaches from universities such as Smith, Oberlin and Wellesley and receiving emails from coaches at  the University of Michigan, Princeton, Dartmouth and Cornell.

“The third one definitely ruined [my chances of being recruited],” Vellanki said. “I was going to go to a national field hockey tournament where I was going to be scouted by coaches, but because I got the concussion around the time of the tournament I couldn’t go.”

Furthermore, the third concussion, which Vellanki received during a field hockey game against Los Gatos, occurred during the worst possible time: junior year. Vellanki ranks it as one of her worst concussions, both physically and mentally.  

“I had four [AP classes] and I missed a month of school,” she said “It was really hard to make up after that.”

Only one semester later, Vellanki was once again struck in the face with a field hockey ball.

After that fourth concussion, Vellanki knew that playing at the college level just wasn’t a tangible goal anymore.

“A lot of the coaches took back their offers,” Vellanki said. “They were like ‘It’s really bad to play through [so many concussions]; it’s like brain damage.’”

Still, she finds it hard to accept the idea of quitting altogether, as she has been playing since the age of five.

Even her family members are heavily involved; Vellanki’s father, having played club cricket during high school and college, continues to participate in athletic events such as 100-mile bike rides, and her older sister, SHS alumna Neha Vellanki, currently plays field hockey for Wellesley college. Vellanki and Neha often play field hockey together as a bonding activity when Neha visits home.

But all the dedication in the world can’t change the fact that Vellanki still gets unexpected migraines, remnants from her previous concussions. Her neurologist has recommended that she stay away from contact sports, as each concussion increases the risk of getting another.

Vellanki says the frequency of concussions can be frustrating in its disruptiveness.

“Getting injured has been hard because I’ve never been able to complete a full [sports] season,” Vellanki said. “I always end up getting injured halfway through. This season I’ve managed not to get injured, [however].”

The truth is, Vellanki’s case is unusual for field hockey. The sheer number of her injuries has earned the attention of others.

In fact, when Vellanki was being pulled out of class for the interview, her teacher joked about her getting another concussion, and on the first day of AP Euro, her answers to teacher Jerry Sheehy’s questions about her sports history raised onlookers’ eyebrows.

“Most people are surprised when they find out,” Vellanki said. “Some of my friends make jokes about my concussions.”

At the very least, Vellanki says she still plans to play for the field hockey Summer League.

“Everyone’s telling me ‘No, stop playing it,’ but it’s just hard [to stop playing field hockey],” Vellanki said. “I was really disappointed when my neurologist said I couldn’t continue playing field hockey after high school, but I didn’t let that get me down.”