Soccer
Favorite athlete: Keylor Navas
Favorite team: USWNT
Favorite memory competing in sports:Winning the Rock Cup my sophomore year
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: When someone brought extremely hot peppers to practice and we all tried them. They were so hot everyone began to sweat profusely…we all were laughing so hard we began to cry.
Music on mobile device: EDM
Future plans: Hopefully to become a lawyer
Words to live by:“I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there.” – The Breakfast Club
One goal before turning 30: To travel to at least three continents
One thing people don’t know about me: I am very interested in culinary arts.
By Mary Jane Souder
Fearless.
It’s a word coach Nick Heim uses to describe Chelsea Jameson, and it’s an essential trait for anyone aspiring to play goalie, a position the Council Rock South senior has occupied for as long as she can remember.
“The first team I was on didn’t have a goalie, and no one wanted to get in net,” Jameson said. “My coach kind of threw me in there, and I actually wasn’t too bad.
“My instincts were there, and I always loved rolling in the dirt and throwing my body, so it worked.”
Heim can vouch for the fact that it worked and recalls his team’s Rock Cup game against Council Rock North with Jameson in net as a sophomore.
“They had a very fast, strong and dangerous forward, Kayla Robinson,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “We knew we couldn’t let her beat us, and one play Kayla slipped past the back line, and Chelsea came up huge on a breakaway save to secure the win and secure the trophy.
“She was fantastic that night, constantly coming off her line to limit Robinson.”
The end result was a 2-0 CR South win, and Jameson went on to earn All-SOL National second team honors. The sky was the limit for the sophomore standout, but the script didn’t exactly go as planned for Jameson, who inexplicably began experiencing back pain at the end of her sophomore year.
“Honestly, it came out of nowhere,” she said. “I never experienced back pain, I never had a broken bone.
“I was just like, ‘That’s weird, maybe it’s a muscle,’ and I went through the summer. I was doing so many sports and working too. I guess I pushed it, and in the beginning of junior year, it got to the point where it was unbearable and I couldn’t even get myself out of bed. The walking – it was awful.”
Jameson went through a series of doctors. None had an explanation.
“No one could wrap their head around the fact that I never had back pain before,” she said.
Jameson watched from the sidelines while the Golden Hawks made a magical postseason run to the state quarterfinals.
“It killed me,” she said. “It happened to be the one season we made it extremely far.
“It was definitely tough, but I love my team. They made it so easy to have fun, and I wanted it just as bad as everyone on the team. Every day I went to practice, I dressed in uniform at every game, I was screaming, I was so excited for them.”
Jameson’s back pain, however, remained a mystery.
Until she eventually ended up under the care of Dr. Alexander Vaccaro, the President of Rothman Institute who had worked with professional athletes, including the Philadelphia Eagles.
“He was great – he connected with me on my sports aspect,” Jameson said. “The first time we met he straight up asked me – ‘You want to play sports again, right?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ He said. ‘I’ll take care of you, I promise.’ I trusted him.
“He understood how big of a deal it was for me and I needed to keep playing. If I was told I could never play a sport again, it would not be okay for my mental health. He made me feel really comfortable, he made me feel okay.”
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Jameson was diagnosed with an advanced case of Spondylolisthesis, the shifting of the L5 and S1 vertebrae in her spinal column. Surgery was her only option if she aspired to ever play sports again.
“It needed to be fixed or I had to retire from sports,” Jameson said. “That was not an option.
“I made the decision. It was pretty terrifying.”
On Feb. 13, she underwent surgery for spinal fusion performed by Dr. Vaccaro.
“It was going to be a two-inch incision, but it ended up being 10,” Jameson said. “Besides the point, he put two rods in there and four screws and put some cadaver bone through the middle to fuse it all together.”
She was released from the hospital three days later, Feb. 16, on her 16thbirthday. The surgery was a remarkable success, but a grueling rehab awaited Jameson, who was homeschooled until she was able to return to the classroom in late May.
“I was pretty bedridden for a few weeks before I was able to use a walker and a full brace,” said Jameson.
There was also physical therapy four to five times a week – half in the pool and half on land. By summer, Jameson – who still has physical therapy twice a week - was given clearance to resume contact soccer.
A new journey was about the begin.
“In the beginning, it puts you down,” Jameson said. “It makes you feel like you can’t get back to where you were. It sucks to not be able to perform the same way that you were the year before. I battled it in my head mentally a lot.
“The first few games – it hits you in the face, you’re back. I definitely realized that I’m not where I was a year-and-a-half ago. I hesitate, I guess, because it’s scary thinking I could mess (my back) up again, so throwing my body down on a high school girl is not really the easiest thing to do, but I have definitely been able to push myself, and I have gotten out of my comfort zone a little bit.”
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Heim calls Jameson an inspiration.
“She has the greatest personality, one of the best personalities that I’ve coached,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “We’re so proud of her.
“She has never used her injury as an excuse for anything and has never wanted any slack cut for her. In preseason, she finished every single run, every fitness standard, never cutting any corners despite the fact that she had just gotten back into shape to even attempt to play. She’s truly an inspiration to her teammates and coaches.”
Jameson and senior Emily Helmich have been the top two goalies in the program since the day they stepped on the field as freshmen. Jameson– who is playing behind Helmich – has seen action in several games this season.
“She’s played well,” Heim said. “Her foot skills look like they’re back. It was nice to see.”
For Jameson, just being back with the team she loves is a victory.
“I’ve known these girls my entire life, so being able to put that uniform on again actually means something,” she said. “To play behind them, it’s indescribable, it’s amazing.”
That’s not to say it wasn’t an adjustment.
“Last year it was different,” Jameson said. “I knew I couldn’t play, but I guess knowing now that I can and I haven’t really been able to show everything that I got – it was a little bit hard in the beginning, but I respect our other goalie, Emily Helmich, so much.
“She’s amazing, she’s done so much for the team. Last year was one of her best years, and I’m so incredibly proud of her. She’s continuing on this year. I look up to her, I respect her, and I trust her 100 percent.”
For his part, Heim is concerned about more than just soccer when it comes to Jameson.
“I told her, ‘We play some teams that are really aggressive, and if a girl ran you over and you reinjured your back – I worry about you when you’re 25 and 30. I don’t want you to be a 35-year-old mom that can’t pick up her kid because your back got screwed up playing high school soccer,’” Heim said. “I think she understands it, but I think it’s frustrating because she has come back from a lot.
“I talked to her mom about it too. She has reiterated that the program means so much to Chelsea and Chelsea loves being part of it and being with her friends. She’s the most fun-loving kid in the program. She’s the one that we kind of rely on to remind us that even in tense situations and big games that we’re here because this is something that we love. She’s just a tremendous kid to have in the program. Sometimes we as coaches think we’re having a bad day or a bad stretch. Here’s a 17-year-old girl that has overcome this back injury.”
Jameson – who is deciding between a career in law or the culinary field – lived with the dream of playing collegiate soccer and was just beginning the recruiting process when the back issues began.
“Taking off that long and not being on the field, it made me focus on my health and myself other than sports,” said Jameson, who says she grew up with a ball in her hand. “I love soccer, and if the opportunity presents itself, I would 110 percent take it. I’m not against trying out as a walk-on for any college team. Basically, I want it to be known that I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m not far from it.”
And Jameson will not stop trying until she gets there.
