The last month has been an adjustment for Omaha Marian senior Campbell Capece.
Almost a month to the date agao, Capece, one of the Crusaders’ four-year starters, went after a tight-to-the-net ball and landed on her right leg instead of her natural left leg landing.
When she landed, she felt the pop that athletes are most scared of. It was her knee and a torn ACL. Her senior season was over.
“I was mostly shocked … I had tears in my eyes,” Capece told NebPreps. “I was crying, but I was more shocked at what just happened.”
What goes through the mind of a senior, winding down her last high school season with dreams of once again playing in a state tournament, can be frightening.
Immediately, she was shocked at what happened and questioned if she would ever play again.
She will, it just won’t be at this week’s state tournament with her teammates. Capece, a libero/defensive specialist, is committed to play collegiately at Evansville.
After the injury, Marian coach Jake Moore and his staff had an idea to keep one of his team’s leaders involved. Capece would become one of his assistant coaches — think more of a player-coach job description without being able to play.
“They’ve helped a lot,” Capece said of the coaching staff. “Especially giving me that role of being able to coach. Coach Moore, between every single set, lets me have two minutes with the team, and then it’s his turn.”
It’s a way for Capece to still be involved with the team, giving her a different view of the game to keep her mind off of not being able to play herself.
“I still have a role,” she said. “I’m not just sitting on the bench to say nothing.”
The intensity and mindset of being next to her coach versus on the court is different for Capece.
“Being on the bench, you see a different view of the game,” she said. “I see everything that’s going on on the other side of the court. What’s open, where my hitters’ arm swings are at, all these different things, where the defense is, where they can line up better.”
She went from thinking quickly and making the dig to finding how she can help her teammates make the play.
“When I’m playing, I’m so in tune that I’m just thinking about what my next move is,” she said. “Now I see a whole different view of the game, what can happen in the next couple plays, instead of what’s happening now.”
Moore has given Capece some leeway to speak to the team when it’s needed. After all, sometimes the message can be received differently from a teammate than a coach. Sometimes it’s encouraging words, and other times it’s focused on technical aspects of the game.
“I take the first minute or so to say we’re not doing this, we need to do this, our serve receive is bad, our hitting is bad, more technical things,” she said. “Then it’s implementing things we’ve said all year, like, ‘We’re a better team when we have fun,’ ‘Let’s bring up our energy,’ ‘We’re doing good at this’ —just all of the encouraging things and reminders.”
When she gets to Evansville and plays Division I volleyball, that coaching experience will only help her become a better player.
Her understanding of the game has improved from being on the sideline. A defensive mindset is what has carried her for so long as a player. Now she can see what her hitters are doing and has combined that defensive knowledge with what she’s seeing with offensive side of the game.
Her teammates, especially fellow senior, friend, and club volleyball teammate Taylor McLeay, have welcomed Capece’s feedback.
“That is a relationship that is the most special to my heart because we know each other inside and out,” Capece said. “We know what we need on the court when we’re struggling, what we need when we’re happy and how to keep that going. I can help make her feel like she’s not alone. Get the others around her to help build her up and all be leaders and not just think that she has to put so much weight on herself.”
The relationship has grown in the weeks since Capece’s injury because she’s seeing the game from a different perspective.
“We’ve always been on the court together, so we’ve seen it the same, but now I’m seeing it so differently that I can give her more than what I was giving her on the court,” Capece said. “I can see if she’s hitting what’s open, if she’s in the back row, where their shots are, or what our side of the court has opened.”
The third-seed Crusaders will face No. 6 Millard West at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament, with their new secret-weapon assistant coach bringing the joy and passion she has for the game with her.
“Still being able to come to practice every day, see my teammates and be involved — my teammates have really been the reason,” Capece said of how she has dealt with not playing in the state tournament. “Being able to be involved with them every single day is what brings me joy. Being able to still do that and have the relationships I have with them continuing on through state and still getting to experience the state atmosphere.”
