Scholar Stories: Mesochoritou Brings Positivity to Classroom, Leadership, Injury Recovery

Scholar Stories: Mesochoritou Brings Positivity to Classroom, Leadership, Injury Recovery

By Kiera Burns

Continuing the series that began in 2016-17, each Wednesday MGoBlue.com will highlight a Michigan student-athlete and their academic pursuits. These are our Scholar-Athlete Stories, presented by Absopure.

While many freshmen make an immediate impact on their teams at Michigan, tennis junior Gala Mesochoritou stands out. Her freshman campaign started out with an impressive 17-0 singles record.

“I kept playing matches and I kept winning,” said Mesochoritou, “but I wasn’t really thinking ‘Oh I’m 17-0’ or ‘I’m 10-0.’ I just kept playing and was having fun and was happy to help my team.”

Her concentration on individual matches was so strong that she did not realize she was undefeated until she saw a post from team’s Twitter account.

Unfortunately for Mesochoritou, her run came to a screeching halt with an injury.

“I got injured right before Big Tens and NCAAs,” she said. “It was also my first big injury; I had never been injured before.”

Given the timing of that injury, she was forced into a role on the sidelines and encouraged her teammates throughout those Big Ten and NCAA competitions. Unsure what her injury was in the moment, she described finding out the news that it was her anterior cruciate ligament.

“When my trainer called me and said I had torn my ACL and I have to get surgery, it was pretty hard for me,” she said. “But my coaches and my teammates and everyone really supported me and helped me get through it.”

The process of recovery was not easy and took her more than nine months to fully return to tennis.

“I really wanted to get back on court,” she said. “I was working really hard. It was hard to watch my teammates play.”

But watching her teammates from the bench also taught Mesochoritou a valuable lesson.

“Before (the injury), I thought playing was the only way I could help, but I realized that’s not true,” she said. “Coming to college, what I learned is that tennis is a team sport in college, you’re not playing on your own anymore. So every person on the team counts; it doesn’t matter if you’re in the lineup or not.”

After a difficult sophomore year progressing through her recovery, Mesochoritou came into her junior year this season ready to take on more of a leadership role on the team.

“As a junior, I am really happy I can help…