Basketball
Favorite athlete: Michael Jordan – I love his inspirational quotes about the game and life
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Our team has so many funny moments, but one is that we have this chant we do before every game in the locker room where we yell “whose house, our house,” but half the time it’s just never our house because it’s an away game.
Music on iPod: R&B, rap, country… I listen to everything.
Future plans: Graduate college, get a good job in the business world, and have a family.
Words to live by: “When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.”
One goal before turning 30: Have a successful career and have traveled the world.
One thing people don’t know about me: I’ve had 12 surgeries.
By Mary Jane Souder
Liz Potash uses the word “fearless” to describe Abby Charlton on the basketball court.
“She plays harder than anyone,” the Central Bucks East coach said. “She’s not afraid to get on the ground and dive for a ball - she will go for anything.”
Not exactly the kind of thing you’d expect a coach to say about a player that suffered a torn ACL in not just one but both knees.
In truth, no one would have blamed Charlton if she’d opted to walk away from basketball. As a matter of fact, those closest to the Central Bucks East senior gave her permission to call it a career after she suffered a torn ACL for the second time in as many years near the end of her sophomore season.
“They said, ‘It’s your choice. If you want to give it up, it’s understandable,’” she said.
Charlton had other ideas.
“As soon I found out that it was a torn ACL, my first words were, ‘I don’t want to quit. I’m going to rehab. I’m going to come back, and I’m going to be stronger than ever,’” she said. “I was determined to do that.”
Charlton is back, an advertisement for perseverance every time she steps onto the court.
“I’ve just always been so blown away and impressed by the fact that whatever obstacle she has she just keeps overcoming it,” Potash said. “I think it says a lot about her that she’s not a starter for us, she’s not the highest scorer on the team, but it doesn’t make a difference to her.
“She’s battling back, no matter what it is. She’s just so tough, and she’s a great inspiration for the other kids. There are no excuses. You have no excuse to not give everything you have when Abby’s on the floor with you and you know what she’s been through and what she’s battled through.”
Charlton admits she can’t help but wonder what might have been if her career had not been slowed by injuries.
“I do think about it – what I could have done in two years, getting better and being able to play,” she said. “Being able to play would have been really nice, but I’m just happy to be back now.”
There’s not even a trace of bitterness when Charlton talks about what might have been if – as a freshman jayvee player of promise – she had not gone down in her team’s first game.
“She was pretty new to me, but I liked the way she played during tryouts,” said Potash, a first-year coach at the time. “She was a tough player.”
Charlton admits she wasn’t actually concerned when the injury occurred.
“It was the third quarter, and I just went up to steal the ball,” she said. “I came back down, and my knee when out from under me.
“At the time, I really didn’t know much about ACLs. My dad had torn his when he was younger, so I heard about it, but I didn’t know the depth of it. Actually, when I went to the trainer, the one thing she said to me was, ‘I don’t think it’s your ACL, so you’re good.’ I honestly thought I’d be back the next day. I did not think it would be a season-ending injury.”
But it was.
“I was scared,” Charlton said. “I heard nine-month recovery, and that freaked me out. I was so upset that I wouldn’t be able to finish out my freshman season because I worked so hard in the preseason. Just to make the team and have that taken away was just heartbreaking.”
After nine months of rehab, Charlton was, in her own words, “ready to get back to basketball” her sophomore year.
“I was feeling really strong,” she said. “I was excited to be able to play.
“I was able to play in the fall league, and I was able to make it onto the varsity that year, which was a huge accomplishment for me because I hadn’t played organized basketball for so long. It was crazy how far behind you could get. I was really excited to be back to playing and doing what I love. I was so healthy.”
By the end of her sophomore season, Charlton had found her way into the starting lineup. Then, during East’s Coaches vs. Cancer Event, the unthinkable happened.
“Me and a couple of teammates were doing a little 3-on-3 off to the side,” she recalled. “I went up for a layup, and I went down again.
“This time I heard a tear and a pop in my leg. It kind of felt like a zipper unzipping down my knee. I started crying. I knew that pain. I knew it was my ACL. Everyone tried to convince me, ‘It will be okay,’ but I knew.”
Charlton’s worst fears were confirmed.
“I was even more devastated because it was the week before playoffs,” she said. “It was very hard. It was just awful knowing I’d have to sit through all the practices. It was the second year of not playing AAU, and I love AAU basketball.”
That being said, Charlton admits the second go-round was a bit easier.
“I knew what was coming, and I knew how to tackle it,” she said.
And tackle it she did, returning in time for her junior season. For the past two seasons, Charlton has been a valued reserve for the Patriots, playing the only way she knows how – all out.
“I honestly am not in fear,” she said. “Off the court, sometimes I’ll think about it, and it will freak me out, but when I’m on the basketball court, there’s nothing I love more than diving for a ball, being aggressive. It honestly doesn’t come to my mind.”
She points to the encouragement and support she received as significant in her comeback.
“The amount of support I received to come back to playing from all my coaches, especially Coach Potash - she always pushed me to my full potential and helped me be able to play again, and I’m extremely thankful for that,” Charlton said. “My teammates were extremely encouraging on the court as well, pushing me and picking me up along the way.
“My parents also played a huge role in supporting me on and off the court with my knees, and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
******
Basketball has been Charlton’s sport of choice for as long as she can remember.
“I played a lot of sports growing up,” she said. “I think it was in fourth grade that I really found a love for the game.
“I knew I wanted to play basketball, and I slowly stopped playing the other sports and focused a lot on basketball.”
Charlton went the usual route, playing travel and then AAU, and it was the fast pace of the game that made the sport so appealing.
“I would play softball, and I didn’t like how slow that was,” she said. “I liked how basketball was constantly up and down the court.
“I liked how it really was a team sport, and everyone really contributed because you always – at some point – had the ball in your hands or were getting a rebound or setting a screen. Everyone plays a part when you’re on the court.”
It was during her freshman basketball season that Charlton was introduced to East’s remarkable Coaches vs. Cancer event.
“I remember helping out, and that was one of the most successful years that they had – they raised over $100,000,” she said. “That was just amazing to watch that whole day and be a part of it. I knew that was something I wanted to be directly involved with when I got older.
“I actually have had family members who have been affected by cancer, and I know how awful it is. It really did inspire me to want to be a part of this amazing event.”
This year, Charlton is co-chair of the event along with classmate Matt Pattyson.
“It’s a ton of work, but the relationships you make through it and the contacts you make and the people you talk to about it – it’s life changing,” she said. “We’ve been working on it since about August. I do something for it every day.”
For Charlton, the event is personal. Her mother’s cousin lost his five-and-a-half-year battle with cancer this past summer.
“He was the most fun-loving, amazing guy,” she said. “To watch him battle through cancer with such a smile on his face, it really inspired me and I just really wanted to get involved.”
An excellent student, Charlton boasts a 4.1 grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is considering a major in the business world.
“If that doesn’t work out, I could see myself going into the pharmaceutical world,” she said.
She is deciding between Penn State, Clemson and the University of South Carolina, and has not ruled out the possibility of playing basketball at the intramural level.
“Basketball has been part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Charlton said. “Especially knowing that time is coming to an end, you have to play to the best of your ability and leave everything on the court because the worst feeling is coming off the court and knowing there might not be a next time.”
