Illinois Wesleyan women’s volleyball player Taylor French has been battling injuries since high school. But, that hasn’t stopped her from being an accomplished athlete, winning the All-American honor twice, and being a two-time College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Offensive player of the year. But, it hasn’t been easy either.
“Really my only issue-free, working limb is my left arm,” French joked.
French listed many injuries plaguing her, including a recurring tibia fracture and fractured fibula in her left leg, two ligament tears and a medio mals bone contusion in her left ankle, plica syndrome in her right knee, Achilles issues in her right ankle, and last but not least, issues with the ball and socket in her right shoulder.
The tears and contusion that she obtained in her left ankle was a result of a “block gone wrong” in the CCIW championship match against Millikin University last season. She landed on the foot of a teammate after going up for a block and severely rolled her left ankle on the way down.
But that didn’t stop her from finishing the game.
With the championship win,, the Titans made the NCAA tournament and were set to play in Marietta, Ohio five days later. Those five days are great for normal muscle recovery, but with French’s other pre-existing injuries, the recovery process looked a little different.
“During that time, I was doing a lot of hivamats and game readies for rehab. I met with Logan every day leading up to the first game of the NCAA and I was not able to participate in practices,” French said. Logan Hollis, an athletic trainer at Illinois Wesleyan, works with the women’s volleyball team. “During those practices, the rehab I did included more hivamat and light movements up until the first day of the NCAAs, and then I was able to play in the matches.”
While playing in the NCAA tournament resulted in much success for the team, French’s recovery was stunted.
“It pushed back my recovery time, because if I decided not to play in NCAA, I probably would have been able to play all of spring season. Just the fact that I played on it stretched the ligaments out even more. So now I have to wait even longer for them to go back together, because if I keep messing with it, it’s just going to pull my ankle apart more,” French explained.
From a first glance, an outside hitter takes an exorbitant amount of jumps in just a single game, and even more in a week when including practices. For French especially, jumping isn’t just in the front row for blocking and attacking, or for the occasional swing out of the back row–it’s also consistently jumping for her topspin serve. After reinjuring her tibia in the 2023 season, she was limited to 20 jumps per practice when she came back for the spring in 2024.
After the NCAA tournament, French was able to walk normally without a boot at first, but coming back to school in January, she was boot-ridden for about eight weeks and told she would not be able to participate in the upcoming spring season.
“I had to do all my rehab sitting down, which was just ankle pumps or toe yoga and marble pickups. Everything had to be non-weight bearing,” French explained.
After a doctor’s appointment later that month, she was told she would be rid of the boot early and start weight bearing rehab. As of late now, she is easing into live play, having expanded to both front and back row.
“I’m hoping to be able to at least play back row by the time we play ISU, NIU and Bradley in our spring tournaments,” French said.
For any athlete, having any injury can be excruciatingly taxing on you mentally. One of the most important qualities in an athlete at any level is their mental toughness and how they can bounce back from setbacks or injuries.
“It’s very hard because I tend to push myself and want to keep going, even though I know I shouldn’t. But I push myself because I have my goals and I don’t want to let my teammates down. I just want to play volleyball,” French explained.
To help her get through those tough times, she relies on head women’s volleyball coach Kim Nelson-Brown and assistant coach Tyler Brown, along with Hollis, who help remind her of the goals she made when she first came to IWU.
“I wanted to be there for my team, and coming into college I wanted to get 1000 kills and 1000 digs, which I achieved. I eventually beat the kill record, which I’m still working towards now,” French said.
Though French has dealt with big physical struggles as a result of the injuries, she continues to face the adversity with a focus on recovery. Now, French works three times a week with Hollis, and under his guidance, she participates in rehab work to regain mobility in her ankle and strengthen the muscles around it to help with stability.
French also makes sure to be aware of how her body is feeling during the practices and lifts she can participate in, so she can determine if she needs to limit herself in a drill by reducing the amount of jumps and movement. This process can apply to any athlete with any injury.
“Know your body. It’s never usually wrong. If you don’t feel like you’re capable of doing it, don’t push yourself through it, because in the end, it’s only going to make it worse.”
Mentally, going through multiple injuries can be extremely hard. With volleyball being an outlet for French, not being able to fully participate and having to sit in on practices on the sidelines takes a toll.
“It’s really hard to sit there and watch, especially when I’m such a competitive person who nonstop wants to go and just be active,” French said.
French meets with Nelson-Brown every week, to talk about her mental health and to help her maintain patience, looking at the bigger picture of achieving her goals and healing completely.
Dealing with injury and going through the recovery process so many times made French realize how important it is to keep a positive mindset. Healing truly does start with what your mind believes your body will achieve.
“It’s mainly just telling myself I can do something and I’m capable of it,” French said.
