Injuries are commonplace among athletics. The severity, however, can determine the direction of careers.

Junior gymnast Natasha Jufko has been a member of the gymnastics team since 2011 and before this season had only recorded two scores (both for exhibition routines).

“Injuries kept her out the first two years, and setbacks from those injuries, foot and ankle issues and a knee injury…kind of slowed her down last year,” said head coach Sam Morreale. “Through summer of this year and preseason, she has just been able to get a solid amount of time of training in.

“She’s a kid, when we brought her in she was very skilled and we thought she would do very well for us, she’s just now kind of stepping into that role. She came in as an all-arounder but injuries have limited her to be a beam specialist.”

Jufko has come on this season to be one of the better beam performers, especially early on as she garnered MAC specialist of the week for her performance on beam the first meet of the season with a 9.825.

Jufko followed the next week with another 9.825 and has posted slightly lower scores the last two meets: 9.275 and 9.225.

Despite her last two scores being as good as her first two, Jufko is still feeling the effects of the first injury that kept her out the first season: the tearing her plantar fascia, the arch of the foot. Working through that, she later injured her knee after two exhibition routines, hyper-extending and damaging her knee in the process of a landing.

“…Throughout the two major injuries and getting back into things, there have also been ups and downs,” Jufko said. “I really came back this fall with not much and working really hard these last few months to get back into beam line-up.”

Being recruited as an all-around gymnast and being limited to one exercise, Jufko tries to find time to practice on floor routine, but is still limited by a nagging soreness with her foot.

That inability to perform other routines has been a tough transition for her, as she believes that it takes a lot more focus and has harsher penalties for performance with everything riding on one event.

“It’s been difficult at times because say if I have a bad day I want to be able to prove myself on another event because a lot of the other gymnasts are able to do that,” Jufko said. “I can’t. I’m focusing all my energy on that event. I just try to take it one turn at a time, do the best that I can, and stay in the best shape that I can to keep up with beam and I’m hoping to get back into floor eventually, just one step at a time for me.”

Morreale said that despite Jufko being unable to perform at all the last two seasons and now being limited to just one event, she has been able to lend her aid to other gymnasts with her strong suits.

“The injury definitely allowed me to tap into her, she’s a great performer,” Morreale said. “She’s a girl who has a very expressive floor routine. From that standpoint I let her help with some of the current floor kids to help them show and perform with their floor routines.”

While it seems that the injuries have still gotten the better of a promising career, the determination and the performance from Jufko this season already stands more as a testament to hard work and the dynamics of a sport that encompasses so many necessities from the human body.

Knowing what she has gone through, Morreale finds it rewarding in itself to just be able to watch Jufko compete.

“She has done a lot of mental work and physical preparation to get herself to the level she’s at now,” Morreale said. “It’s actually really satisfying for me to finally see her out there showing her potential.”

Unable to lose sight of her passion, Jufko is not able to fully express what it means to be able to perform this season. With the injuries she suffered, her level of confidence of ever being able to perform again was very low. To be able to come back and not only perform but make the starting line-up is a nod to the potential and ability that got her the recruitment in the first place.

“I appreciate it a million times more,” Jufko said. “If you asked me two years ago if I’d be doing gymnastics again, there’s no way, it hurt to walk. Every day coming in is kind of a blessing for me. I’ve been taking it all in and enjoying my last few years I have here, it’s been special.”