VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR)- After being sidelined for her junior soccer season because of a serious knee injury, Frank Cox's Ava Rassool made the move to tennis as she recovered.
Now she's back to full strength and back on the soccer field, but that doesn't mean she's putting the racket down just yet.
Last year, Rassool wasn't quite ready to get back to soccer, but during her time with the Falcons' tennis team, found that to be a perfect match as well.
"I do love tennis," she said. "It was something I played when I was younger and then I kind of backed off of it to focus on soccer. Now that I'm back to it, I was like 'wow, I want to keep doing this!'"
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Falcons' Rassool soaring after climbing back from injury
However, she had every intention of returning to the pitch for her senior season as well. Soccer has always been her passion and she was ready to return to the field after a year away from the game.
"The last time I played Cox soccer, it was tearing my ACL," she recalled. "It definitely was something that was nerve-racking, but coming back, it was really the people that made the whole process a joy."
"Who am I to say, 'nope, you can only play one sport or the other'?," added Cox head girls soccer coach Lora Marlar. "That's not why I'm out here. I want to bring the best out in all these kids."
So there it was- two varsity sports in one spring season. Whether it's working on her backhand or finding the back of the net, you'll often find the senior representing her school in an athletic capacity during the spring. Once she determined she wanted to play both tennis and soccer, she sat down with both head coaches to map out a gameplan.
"We just agreed that Ava had complete say over her body, how she was feeling physically, mentally, psychologically," noted Marlar. "We just wanted to make sure that she was in the best place possible."
Pulling double duty with a tennis match and a soccer game on the same day is not uncommon. Be it practices or competitions, Ava handles both sports with 100 percent effort and is a leader for her teammates both on the court and the pitch. This past Wednesday, she won her singles tennis match (6-0,6-1) in the Falcons' win over Salem, then went over to the stadium and helped to soccer squad to a 2-1 victory over Great Bridge.
"I have adult friends who can't juggle what she's juggling," smiled Falcons' head girls tennis coach Elizabeth Absher. "She's at tennis practice for an hour and a half, throws her cleats on, runs across the field and now it's soccer time."
"It's definitely been busy and definitely sometimes hard, but it's easy when it's two things that I love," Ava pointed out. "Time really does fly, so I love it. I wouldn't ask for anything more."
The senior is not just playing these sports, she's excelling in them. Wednesday's triumph improved her singles record to 12-0 on the tennis season with some impressive wins to her name. On the soccer field, she has 12 goals and seven assists, putting her among the region's leaders in scoring. One of her best performances of the slate was a five-goal outburst against Maury earlier this spring.
"She said 'I didn't score those goals, we scored those goals,'" Marlar said. "That's who she is. She just really is a phenomenal young lady who deserves all that she's earned right now."
"If I miss a simple open goal or if I hit a point in tennis that will sail, it's definitely really important to me," added Ava. "It's just because I love them and I love both these teams so much and I just want to do the best I can for them."
"She is the epitome of resilience, confidence," Absher noted. "The bigger the challenge, she just meets it. She rises every single time."
Now she's looking to rise once again to these final challenges of her senior year. She's left her mark on the two programs and now looks to create a few more memorable moments as the clock winds down on her high school career.
"She's left her fingerprint here on Cox soccer and I tell her that every day," said Marlar. "I tell her how proud I am and that I'm blessed to be part of her journey."
"I'm doing both of the sports that I love and I'm getting to be with two completely different teams that are so amazing," smiled Ava." It's just like I've grown up with them these four years so I'm going to miss it, but I'm so grateful."
Ava's athletic career will not end with high school. She'll head to Christopher Newport in the fall and suit up for the Captains' soccer team. Absher told us that she would not be surprised to see her walk on to the tennis team as well.
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