- April 25, 2024
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Some athletes take playing sports for granted. Matanzas’ Eric Scarpa is grateful every time he laces up his gold cleats.
The exact cause was never determined. The pain was excruciating. There was no guarantee everything would be OK.
Eric Scarpa had just finished his freshman year at Matanzas High School. He made the varsity soccer team as a freshman, and was ready to begin a busy summer filled with elite tournaments where he could showcase his talents for college programs.
One day, he was helping his grandfather do some remodeling, when he felt a tweak in his back.
It was painful, he recalls. That pain intensified when he woke up the next morning, so he and his mother, Lori Scarpa, decided to go see a doctor.
An MRI revealed Scarpa had a bulging disc in his back.
The doctor said he didn’t want to perform surgery, though.
“It’s something you’ll grow out of if you keep doing rehab,” the doctor told Scarpa. “You’ll get strong, You’ll be OK.”
Following doctor’s orders, Scarpa kept playing soccer, even though the pain never subsided. He was playing on an Orlando-based club team over the summer.
Second opinion
Summer and fall passed, and Scarpa battled through the pain to finish his sophomore season.
After the season, he was ready to get back to the club schedule when the pain reached a climax.
“It was a sharp pain that would go through my legs,” Scarpa said in an interview Friday. “I had to wake up to go to the bathroom at least 10 times at night because the disc was pressing on a nerve that ran through my bladder.”
In school, Scarpa had to get doctor’s notes to explain why he constantly had to get up in class to either walk around or go to the bathroom.
“The pain reached a point where I just couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. “My parents and I were frustrated that it wasn’t getting any better, and I wanted to see another doctor and get another MRI to see why it wasn’t improving.”
The second opinion was a crushing blow to Scarpa’s hopes of playing college soccer.
Results from the second MRI revealed the bulging disc turned into a herniated disc. Surgery was the only option.
For his mother, it was the fear of the unknown.
“It was such a delicate surgery, and I really was petrified,” Lori Scarpa said. “The outcome of that surgery was going to have a great impact on his life. It could have changed him forever.”
Scarpa said he remembers tearing up when the doctor said the damage was past the point of therapy.
“But what really made me choke up was when the doctor told me he didn’t know if I’d ever be able to play soccer again,” he said.
The four-hour surgery, which would be Scarpa’s first surgery, would hopefully fix the herniated disc.
There was no guarantee Scarpa would play soccer again.
Like riding a bike
Hours later, Scarpa was recovering from a successful surgery. He didn’t waste any time getting back to work
He went to therapy three times a week for about two months following the surgery. Then it was time to regain his touch on the soccer field.
“You have the people who say that I was out for so long, and I just wanted to shut all those people up,” he said.
Back on the soccer field for the first time in nearly a year and a half, Scarpa is back doing what he loves: playing right midfielder for the Pirates. And his coach couldn’t be happier to have him back.
“It has been great seeing Eric recover physically and emotionally and regain his form as a player,” Matanzas coach Rich Weber said.
Scarpa has continued to work hard to return to a high level of play.
“You can definitely see the renewed joy that the game has brought to him,” Weber said. “He clearly appreciates the game more than most others ever will begin to understand, given where he has been.”
Scarpa has been scouted by a few colleges, and he said there’s a good chance he’ll be playing soccer this time next year at the next level.
But the road to recovery wasn’t a short journey for the Scarpas. And it definitely wasn’t easy.
“As painful as Eric’s recovery was, the life change that he had to make was more difficult,” Lori Scarpa said. “This was a kid whose life revolved around practice and games. He really was lost for a while”
Said Eric Scarpa: “I had my ups and downs because I was told so many times that I’d be better after therapy. ... It was real discouraging because that never happened.”
And though he missed a lot of time, Scarpa’s soccer ability never left.
“It’s like not riding a bike for years,” he said. “It’s just something that I’ll never forget how to do.”
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