Feature: Off the field, but still in the game

Every year and every season, several athletes abandon their childhood pastimes and quit their sports teams, often leaving dismayed coaches, disheartened teammates and disappointed selves in their wake.

A small number of these former athletes, though, do not voluntarily leave their sports, and they avoid the label of “quitter.” In fact, these athletes fight fiercely to hold onto their teams for as long as possible. Their Princeton experience — so profoundly shaped by their team and their sport — is transformed against their will. Though they resist change, these athletes ultimately succumb to a nagging, unsympathetic plague: injury.

Athletes who suffer from serious injuries or health problems that forced them to leave their teams said that though they have looked into other campus opportunities, nothing could replace their previous athletic commitments. Former athletes take different routes to cope with life after sports. Some choose to leave athletics altogether and start anew, while others try to maintain their fitness, social life and mindset through opportunities on both former and new teams.

For sophomore Nellie Peyton, who rowed open crew freshman year but quit this summer after learning that she had a variation of dysautonomia — a malfunction in the autonomic nervous system — said starting a new sport hasn’t crossed her mind; rowing was the only sport she ever took seriously. With a rush of extra free time this semester, Peyton has looked into non-athletic extracurricular activities. Yet, she explained, nothing has captured crew’s magic.

“I remember when I was an athlete, I would kind of say, ‘Oh, people who just go to class and don’t do anything else are missing out on so much,’ ” she said. “I want to make sure that I can find something important to replace it, and I can’t say that I really have yet.”

Other athletes, like sophomore Matt Strauser and junior Andrew Weinstein, have found ways to retain involvement in sports despite injury. Strauser, a former linebacker trailed by disc problems in his back, has spent the semester occasionally aiding the coaching staff and observing practices, maintaining his connection to the team. After months of consultations and specialists, Strauser realized that he would never get the clearance to run — never mind play football. He explained that he now sees himself mostly as a “privileged observer.”

With the new free time, Strauser said that he has also picked up a campus job and has looked into internships for next semester. Yet, he explained that even with his new commitments — and his continued attachment to the team — his life on and off the field is not the same.

“It’s nearly impossible to replace all the time I spent playing football,” he said.

Weinstein, like Strauser, has been unwilling to let sports leave his world. When Weinstein, a lightweight rower his freshman year, gradually developed unrecoverable back problems his freshman fall, he sought to fight through it and stay in shape through cycling. After one-and-a-half years of pain and injury, Weinstein came to the realization that he wouldn’t be able to row again. He then decided to make cycling more than just a rehabilitation regimen: He joined the club cycling team his sophomore spring.

Weinstein explained that cycling’s competitive racing spirit and its premium on physical fitness clearly dovetailed with his rowing background. He said he has found it to be a different, but nonetheless fulfilling commitment. Weinstein has also managed to stay on the water: He’s begun swimming and competing in triathlons.

Weinstein picked up triathlons this summer at the encouragement of his former head coach Marty Crotty ’98. Crotty, he explained, was a source of support as he dealt with his injury and contemplated his athletic future. Weinstein said that when he eventually left the team, Crotty understood.

“Marty knew I was still going to be doing something,” Weinstein said, referring to cycling. “He told me that if I was going to sit around doing nothing, it’d be harder for him to take. But he respected that I had stuck with him for so long and tried to get better and agreed that it made sense at that point to move on,” he said.

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Peyton, on the other hand, explained that her coach was not as accommodating and agreeable as Weinstein’s. Peyton was cleared to row by doctors, she explained, but she felt that her illness would prevent her from competing at high levels.

The women’s open crew coaching staff, however, didn’t see eye to eye with Peyton’s decision.

“My coach’s opinion was actually that they did not condone my quitting due to this. They saw it as a challenge but not a valid reason to quit,” Peyton explained. “My strong feeling was that if I’m never going to be able to compete at the level that this team demands, that I don’t want to keep giving all my time to it.”

Injured athletes forced to quit leave more than just their coaches — they leave their teammates as well. Peyton, Strauser and Weinstein all emphasized to varying degrees that they do miss the team component and culture of their varsity sports. Their social circles, however, have not drastically changed since leaving their sports, they said, and they still have close relationships with former teammates.

Strauser, who is still an official member of the football team, noted that though he wishes he could play alongside his friends, the other players still treat him as a teammate.

“I definitely miss playing with my teammates, and that’s the worst part of being hurt,” he said. “I try and do everything outside of football with the same group of guys as I would if I were still playing football,” he explained.

“I’m still good friends with some of my teammates, definitely,” Peyton said. “One of the hardest things for me in making the decision was that last year I really did like being a part of the team and a part of the team traditions.”

Ultimately, though, Peyton conceded that things were different.

“I’m still friends with some of the people, but obviously it’s not the same.”