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Kendall Reid signed two pieces of paper that changed her life.
The first signature made her a UCF softball player. The second signature, just one year later, ended her playing career.
“I think I cried the whole day [I signed that second paper],” Reid said. “I got a tattoo on that day. It was Dec. 14, 2016. Every time I look at that tattoo, I know there’s something bigger in the picture and God has something bigger planned than me being a student-athlete.”
The tattoo was a wave signifying a song called “Oceans.” Reid said that as long as her head is above water, she’s going to ride the wave and see where it takes her.
After a promising tenure at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Reid’s softball ambitions ended early after a devastating injury in her freshman year sidelined her for good. This life-changing, career-ending injury caused her to step into a new role with the team.
Tears and cam lesions in both hip labrums took Reid off the field and into the dugout. Reid’s bone had to be shaved during surgery. Years later, she says her left hip still hurts like hell.
Standing at 6 feet 3 inches, Reid is taller than every one of her teammates. She played in different positions growing up, including as a catcher for many years. Reid thinks that being at such an awkward position at such a tall height could have been a cause of her injury.
“I grew up a catcher,” Reid said. “So, once I was nine I started catching, and I stopped catching in junior year of high school because of wear and tear on the body. Obviously — I’m 6-foot-3 — I shouldn’t be catching; I’m too big for that.”
The wave that took Reid to UCF started in freshman year of high school, when she was playing with the under-18 team at Disney’s softball tournament. A bunt for a base hit showed her speed and a home run on her next at-bat convinced Ruben Felix, a former UCF assistant coach, that the Knights needed her.
Reid made the decision on where she would spend her college years in her sophomore year of high school. Many schools were interested, and she was considering programs like Auburn, UCLA, Virginia Tech and LSU – but UCF had something that other schools didn’t.
“When I came on a visit here, the coaching staff cared about me and my well-being and who I was, and I really wanted that,” Reid said. “I like the family atmosphere and I didn’t wanna go somewhere where it was gonna be just my job. Coach G is an amazing person.”
That’s when she signed the first piece of paper committing to play for UCF. Head coach Renee Luers-Gillispie said she was a big-time hitter that would have been fourth or fifth in the lineup.
“She would have been one of our power hitters,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I mean, if you’ve ever seen a 6-foot kid hit a ball – she could drive it. She probably would have been one of our top home run hitting players that year.”
She didn’t play long, though, experiencing her first pains from her injury before the season started. Reid had been to the doctor before and had been told she had tendinitis in her hips – an injury that can only heal after an extended break.
She wasn’t planning on taking a break because of tendinitis.
“I was running off the fact and that I was just gonna go, go, go,” Reid said. “I’m not stopping, so it’s not gonna feel better.”
Reid found out it was much worse than tendinitis during workouts.
“I noticed it when I was lifting weights,” Reid said. “I was in the weight room and I went down to do a lunge, and I felt this shock go down my leg and I was like, ‘Wait. That’s not normal.’ And I lunged down, and I felt that and just dropped the weight.”
That’s when she decided to get an MRI. The test showed that both of her hip labrums were torn. Surgery was the next step — one for her left hip, one for her right.
Reid’s team rallied behind her. Tamesha Glover, who started at UCF the same year as Reid, put together a nice gesture to help her through that difficult experience.
“We actually made a video for her when she went into her surgery,” Glover said. “We said, ‘Good luck. We hope everything goes well and prayers to you.’ We would always keep her in the loop as far as what was going on and everything when she couldn’t come to practice. We always made her feel like she was still a part of the team.”
The family culture at UCF helped Reid through the tough times of being on the outside looking in while she was unable to play. Reid wasn’t alone on her journey to step back onto the diamond. Two of her teammates were also battling injuries that year.
Glover tore her ACL around the same time Reid went down with her injury. Autumn Gillespie, who transferred to Ole Miss, had a season-ending injury as well. The three formed a bond through their mutual misfortune.
“I would say we kind of felt outcasted from the team because we didn’t always come to practice because we knew we weren’t involved,” Glover said. “We were always hurt.”
Injuries helped these three build a relationship they otherwise would not have had. Luers-Gillispie watched them bond through their pain.
“It’s hard enough to go through it when you’re dealing with an injury and not knowing where you fit in — especially as freshmen,” Luers-Gillispie said. “It’s hard enough to fit in as a freshman even if you’re given a starting role. But to be injured and not be a part of what everyone else is doing, you have this isolation feeling. So, when they ended up going through that same thing, they definitely supported each other through the whole thing.”
Rehab was a long ordeal for Reid. She had to spend several hours stretching each hip to get back on the field.
“Rehab was freaking forever,” Reid said. “It took two and a half hours for each hip.”
Dr. Michael Seifert specializes in sports injuries and said that such a severe injury has a lengthy rehab process.
“It would be a long process where you probably wouldn’t get back to doing recreational sporting activities for probably a year at the minimum,” Seifert said. “When you shave the bone and you have to repair the labrum, it’s gonna be a gradual process.”
After both surgeries and months of rehab, she was finally back on the field practicing before her sophomore year season. Then, she fell while planting for a double play.
“I was going into my sophomore year when I was trying to get cleared,” Reid said. “My leg just gave out. I just fell.”
After talks with her father, doctors and coaches, Reid decided to end her playing career. After softball was taken away, Reid considered going home to Jacksonville.
“Whenever you’re going through the recruiting process, people tell you, ‘If you were to take softball away, would you still go there?’” Reid said. “That’s what you have to look at. Obviously, softball has been taken away, but everybody in athletics is super supportive — all the girls here, the campus in general. I didn’t want to leave.”
That’s when she signed the second piece of paper that changed her role from a player to behind the scenes. After being medically disqualified, she found a new passion. When she gave up softball, she made a video of her laying down her cleats.
“She finally accepted that she’s not playing anymore,” Luers-Gillispie said. “I think that’s the hardest thing. That’s your identity – you’re a student athlete. That’s who you are. She realized that she’s more than that.”
UCF softball has a team that shoots video for home games, but Reid now provides tape for away games – something she swore she’d never do.
“When I was playing here my freshman year, we didn’t have somebody to do it for us,” Reid said. “So, [my dad] sat in the press box and did his video and I always told myself, ‘I’m not gonna be like my dad. I’m not doing video.’ And then I get injured.”
You can never predict the waves of life.
Typing Tommy 