Grove City's Burtch trying the improbable again
GROVE CITY — Lily Burtch remembers well the pain, the sweat and the tears it took to play through a torn ACL two years ago.
And now, the Grove City High senior is facing the same challenge after suffering her second torn ACL — this one in the other knee — in three years.
“I'm going to keep trying,” Burtch said. “Even if I can't do it because of my knee, I'm going to try.
Two years ago, she felt her knee buckle and the ACL in her right knee shred during what is normally the mundane of the mundane — a simple practice drill.
She believed her sophomore seasons in volleyball and basketball were over.
Then a simple question changed all of that.
Her father, Chris Burtch, who is also the girls basketball coach at Grove City and a history teacher at the Slippery Rock High, observed how well his daughter was progressing at physical therapy.
So, he asked the trainer, “Can she play the volleyball season through it?”
The response. “Let's try.”
Lily Burtch not only played through the injury, she played well, prompting Chris to ask the same question again about the upcoming basketball season.
The response, “Let's try again.”
Lily made it through the basketball season unscathed and shortly after had surgery to repair the ACL.
This time around, however, is different for Lily.
Her ACL tore when a player on an opposing AAU basketball team member dove for a loose ball and crashed into her left knee.
Now, the stakes are higher. Much higher.
The odds are also against her.
Can she do it again? Can she make it through a high school career with a torn ACL in each knee without missing one game?
Read the full story in Friday's Butler Eagle.
