Freshman Danielle Ram has been playing soccer since before she could read. Through countless games, tournaments and a knee surgery, she continues to persevere and find her future in the sport. 

Ram quickly found a love for soccer during her years on a MSI rec team in elementary school, following in the footsteps of her older brother Andy Ram. “I’ve loved soccer ever since I first started playing,” Ram said. 

In July of 2019 Ram got the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, GA, for the Maccabi Games. Maccabi is an organization building Jewish pride through sports. “I was so excited to go to Maccabi, it was really fun despite my injury,” Ram said. 

After a few days in Maccabi, during a soccer game, Ram hurt her knee and could not play the rest of the week. “I didn’t think it was anything serious at the time. I iced it and figured it would go back to normal,” Ram said. 

Once returned home, Ram visited doctors and was informed she would need surgery. Doctors told her she broke her patella, her knee cap. “I was really scared to get the surgery and what it would mean for soccer in the future,” Ram said. 

After surgery Ram was focused on her recovery. She was healing and working to get back to where she was in soccer before her surgery. “I tried my best to be supportive and do what I could to help her heal,” freshman Maria Sofronas said. 

Recovery was hard and in order to heal Ram needed to go to physical therapy and do exercises to help the process at home. “I was worried I would never fully heal and never get to the point I was in soccer before this all happened,” Ram said. 

After five months of recovery, Ram returned to soccer, starting with practices and working on building up strength until she started playing soccer in games again. “I was so happy when I was healing and got to the point I could be playing and practicing like I used to,” Ram said. 

Currently, Ram is playing for club team Bethesda ECNL and planning to try out for the school soccer team once school sports are allowed. Ram practices regularly with her team and on her own. “I’ve played soccer with Danielle since we were young and have seen how dedicated she is to the sport,” Sofronas said.

In the future Ram hopes to get the opportunity to play soccer not only in high school but also college. It’s been a dream of hers a long time and she works hard to achieve that. “I’m grateful for what the surgery taught me and that after it I’ve been able to continue to play the sport that I love,” Ram said.