Christen Press once believed she was indestructible, immune to the injuries that had sidelined her teammates and ended their careers. But in 2022, a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) shattered not only her knee but also the carefully constructed armor she had relied on throughout her career.
What followed was not just a physical struggle to get back on the court, but a profound journey of emotional recovery. At first, Press viewed rehab as purely physical, a means to heal her body. However, as setbacks kept her off the court and she explored new treatments, her perspective changed.
The U.S. women's national team star realized the injury wasn't a curse but a gift, offering her an unexpected chance to confront long-buried pain and trauma.
“It wasn't painful,” Press told ESPN in an exclusive interview. “It was more of a realization that something was wrong with my body and what that meant for my future.”
In 2022, Press' future was tied to his hometown club, Angel City FC, after an 11-year professional career that spanned the United States and Europe.
Incredibly, she had been available for all but one match, which she missed due to food poisoning. Her body had endured the physical demands of playing for both the club and the national team. But in June of that year, during an NWSL match against Racing Louisville, she stepped back to help her team, committed to making a challenge, and collapsed to the ground after contact.
Press had witnessed the ACL injury crisis in women’s soccer derail the careers of her teammates, but she never imagined it would happen to her until it did, at the age of 33. By then, she was in the senior stage of her career. An MRI confirmed the tear, and she underwent surgery soon after, beginning her recovery with a mix of apprehension and intrigue, hoping to return to competition within nine to 12 months.
“I felt sad, scared and disappointed to miss the season,” she recalls. “But a part of me welcomed it because as a professional athlete, pushing yourself is part of the process. I was sure I would get something positive out of the experience.”
However, Press’s body did not respond well to rehabilitation. Significant issues delayed her return to full fitness. Six months into her recovery, which had already included revision surgery, Sarah Smith, Angel City’s vice president of medical and performance, joined the club. As Angel City was still developing its facilities, Press’s rehabilitation took place off-site at the Meyer Institute of Sport, an elite rehabilitation and performance center.
Smith's team was in constant communication with specialists to manage what became a complex injury. But “career-altering issues” soon arose that caused “sleepless nights” for the medical team, Smith said.
“You think you're going to hit all the milestones and move seamlessly through the continuum,” he added. “But that's not always the case and it doesn't reflect the professionalism of the athlete or the work they put in.”
Every time Press got closer to her return to the field, a new problem arose. Sadly, this resulted in two more surgeries, bringing the total to four, testing her mental and physical endurance. She missed the 2023 Women’s World Cup and at times it looked like her career was over.
“It was very confusing because every day I came in with a smile on my face,” Press said. “I never asked for a break, I never left early. I was very disciplined and extremely determined. I thought that would mean I would have a linear path back, and it was hard to accept that it was out of my control.”
Every time she felt discomfort in her knee, she would contact her surgeon, desperate for good news. But the diagnosis was always discouraging. “It was never just a bad day where the knee was actually fine. It was always, 'You have a cyclops injury in your knee and you can't play.'”
Running out of hope and options, Press began exploring alternative medicine.
“I have the best surgical and physical therapy team, but that's not the only way to heal,” she said. “I made it my mission to be surrounded by different types of healing.”
What began as an attempt to fix his knee turned into an internal transformation, healing not only his injury but also the trauma and pain he had been carrying.
“When I set out to heal my knee, I ended up healing my heart,” Press reflected, referring to the pain she had harbored since her mother’s death in 2019. Her mother’s death came as Press was preparing for the World Cup in France. The quest for ultimate glory became both an outlet and a distraction from her grief.
“Sport is wonderful because it allows you to process things differently: getting all that adrenaline and sweat out of your body detoxifies and balances your hormones, but it also masks a lot of things,” she explained.
“It allows you to move on and bury what's happened to you. When my mom passed away in 2019, I missed one or two camps with the U.S. national team, then I came back and we won a World Cup.
“I was able to play for my mother, but it also left me with a lot of pain that hadn't been addressed. That was the first thing I started to address in therapy.
“I've been doing a lot of work on balancing my nervous system with acupuncture. I went to see a homeopathic doctor and he explained to me that he thought the pain may have caused me to tear my ACL in the first place.”
Outside of her rehab, Press stayed in touch with the Angel City team, attending game days and participating in meetings. Head coach Becki Tweed said Press requested a binder with set-piece tactics to keep her mentally sharp while she was physically restricted.
The medical team remained cautious and took a gradual approach to rebuilding Press’s ability to move, careful to avoid another major setback. His rehabilitation work often involved repeating movements seven or eight times more than a patient would normally do, demonstrating the thoroughness required due to the complexity of his injury.
Despite the monotonous work of rehab and the frustration of watching her teammates train, the California native remained steadfast in her quest to get back on the court. Even when those closest to her wavered, she held firm.
“When you're told you need a fourth operation, people who love you start asking, 'When is he going to wake up?'” the two-time world champion said. “But it never occurred to me to give up. That's just how I am.”
Her determination has left a lasting impression on the staff.
“You could see the pain in her knee during the technical work,” Smith recalls. “Watching her struggle, I wasn't sure that more time or more strength was going to help. It was hard to know that continuing on wouldn't make it any better.”
“But she excelled throughout the two-year process, bringing optimism, hope and joy to it all.”
That perseverance has paid off. Although Press was not named to the 2024 Olympic team, she is set to return to Angel City FC when the NWSL resumes this weekend. She has been training with the team for three months and returned in early August, scoring a penalty in Angel City’s shootout win over the San Diego Wave in the NWSL x Liga MX Women’s Summer Cup.
“I spoke to her before the game and she said, 'I'm not scared,'” Tweed said. “During the game, she got the contact from a tackle, stood up and smiled. She needed that moment.”
“After that, she had two shots. That's what she brings: intelligent movement and the ability to find dangerous spaces around the 18-yard box.”
At 35 years old and with 64 international goals, which ranks ninth in U.S. women's national team history, Press doesn't have much left to accomplish. But she's not done yet, even if her perspective has changed.
“I have mixed feelings about how I can have the biggest impact on my team and minimize the long-term consequences for my life,” she said. “But I'm excited to continue progressing and have a bigger impact at Angel City FC.”
His injury, although devastating, became a transformative experience, physically, mentally and emotionally.
Returning to the court, Press feels stronger in ways he never anticipated, having learned a key lesson: “You are exactly where you're supposed to be.”
And for Press, that means getting back on the field at BMO Stadium this Sunday, with the grass beneath his feet.
