About Me

My name is Lauren Crickenberger and I am currently a junior in high school. I have always been involved in athletics, in particular soccer, swimmimg, and tennis.   I started playing soccer when I was five years old, however, when I was eight my parents made me choose between soccer and dance. Unfortunately, I chose dance. When I was thirteen I realized that I had made a mistake. I began with playing for a recreational team in the fall with an amazing coach who suggested that I try out for a travel team in the spring. I tried out for that travel team in the spring, but didn't make it. I was not about to give up, so I traveled to Charlottsville and tried out for their travel team and made it. After just one year of playing for that travel team I made a higher level elite travel team. However just two months after making the elite team I encountered my first knee injury. In one of my high school games I got kicked in the knee and fractured my growth plate. After recovering from this I pushed myself really hard to get back in shape before fall season began and ended up getting tendonitis in my knee. Then during my first game of the season on the elite travel team, in a Labor Day tournament, I tore my MCL. I was out for a total of eight weeks which put me back coming back just before college showcase weekend. This was my chance to show just what I was made of and potentially be considered for a future recruit. The second I stepped on the field I knew I was going to go all out no matter what. I ended up retearig my MCL, but that didn't stop me from finishing out the weekend. I got noticed that weekend, but that didn't stop the reoccuring knee injuries that eventually took me out of soccer for good. I began swimmimg when I was five for a summer swim team, POST, and eventually began swimming year round for Gators Extreme. However, when I began to get more serious about soccer I had to cut back and only swim during the summer. But, when I was sixteen, and could no longer play soccer due to too many knee injuries, I started swimming year round again except this time I swam for my high school team during the winter, summer swim team during the summer, and on my own at the local ymca the rest of the time. Swimming has been my therapeutic recovering mechanism after the knee injuries. I have now put all my attention on swimming and hope to swim for college. I have always played tennis, but it has always been for fun. That is until this year when I tried out for my school team and made it. I may not be the best one on the team, but I am getting better and having a lot of fun!