Car crashes happen every day.
Some of them are life-changing, others are life-altering.
Devastation can happen in an instant and for Penn State women’s soccer fixture Devon Olive, her college plans veered after being injured in one on College Avenue following practice in the Spring of her senior season.
“The whole accident probably took about 15 seconds,” she said. “But, within that time frame, I saw everything flash before my eyes.”
The crash made her question everything she knew up until that point about her identity. And, she found herself questioning whether she’d ever lace up her cleats again.
College Avenue is an East-West one way on two-lane roadways. As Olive and her teammates were approaching their turnoff, they were traveling in the left lane, and a car approaching in the right lane, decided to try to turn left.
The impact caused Olive to suffer retina damage, three broken facial bones, and a long-lasting concussion right before the 2023 season.
She redshirted in her fifth year, which wasn’t what she expected in her college career, let alone already getting a fifth year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, she opted to not only take the time to recover and work on every aspect of healing, but also to come back stronger. Olive, from Brooklyn, New York, had regular doctors’ visits both in State College and in New York City.
She said she felt like every time she got closer to playing with her team again, she had to endure headaches that halted her dreams.
Luckily for her, she said she had a great support system by her side.
Many teammates, along with Penn State women’s soccer head coach Erica Dambach, helped her get through the tough time. She said that Dambach would always make sure she was okay from a personal standpoint and not just as an athlete.
“I have to credit my roommates, Elle Kershner, Ava Minnier,” Olive said. “Those are two teammates who have been my best friends for years, and through this whole entire accident and recovery process, they have been by my side the entire time. So, I can’t thank them enough.”
Olive is still recovering daily. She wears sports goggles and a protective headband to try to prevent a recurrence of concussion symptoms. She said she still checks in regularly with eye doctors, and trains for headers to do it properly. The mental strength alone to come as far as she has come is nothing short of inspirational.
Getting to be back on the pitch with her teammates has been a thriller, for her, as she and her team are just reaching the end of the 2024 season. On September 12, Olive found validation for all of her hard work when she scored her first goal after returning from this accident.
“I had no regrets,” she told Female Athlete News. “I was so happy. When I saw it hit the back of the net, I was just like, let’s go and then, you have to celebrate with your teammates. That’s what it’s all about.
“I’m kind of speechless, because thinking back to it, here we are almost at the end of our Big Ten season, and that was what kind of started it. So, the journey is definitely, really difficult, but it is extremely worth it, and I’m super, super grateful.”
At the beginning of the season, Olive just wanted to have fun and live in the moment, which is what she has done as Penn State just ended its regular season finale at Jeffrey Field.
“To cherish the moment here on Jeffrey field, that was really just what I wanted, to just go out and have fun knowing it was my last,” Olive said.
For more information and resources on brain injury recovery, please visit the Brain Injury Association of America.
Kassie Vasellas is a Female Athlete News student-intern at Penn State University.
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Photo: Penn State Athletics
