Midfielder Melina Rebimbas transferred to Alabama from the University of North Carolina after her freshman year. During her time with the Tar Heels, she was one of two freshmen to appear in all 23 matches, but her time at Alabama hasn’t been as action packed.
During Rebimbas’ first practice in Tuscaloosa, she experienced severe pain in her right leg. She told the training staff that something was seriously wrong with her hip.
“It was kind of just an overuse thing, there was nothing that specifically caused it,” she said.
Before she could even play a single game, she had to undergo surgery to repair the labrum in her hip.
“They went in and they reconstructed my hip, my labrum, and then just repaired my hernia,” she said.
After her surgery, she began rehab and stayed in Alabama all summer, regaining the abilities needed to play soccer.
“I had to relearn how to jog, relearn how to jump,” Rebimbas said, adding that she felt like a baby trying to learn how to walk again.
She worked with the rehab staff at Alabama and took the recovery in steps, setting small milestones along the way.
“The rehab staff here is unbelievable. The way they took care of me, like just after getting here,” Rebimbas said. She said the staff listened to every word she said and would take her to the right doctors for her injury.
Even though she couldn’t practice with the team, she felt right at home. She said that head coach Wes Hart was “awesome throughout the whole thing,” even though she had just gotten to Alabama and hadn’t had the chance to play for him yet.
“He brought me in three times in the spring semester, outside of practice time to literally just get to know me even more and just ask me how things were going off the field. Which to me meant a lot, because I knew he cared about me as a person first,” she said.
Rebimbas said Hart asked her questions about her transfer, such as whether she was making friends and how school was going.
“I think he played a big role in the positive outlook I had on all this, and my teammates the entire time were awesome,” she said.
Even though Rebimbas couldn’t practice with the other players, she said they went out of their way to converse with her and wanted to get to know her.
“I didn’t feel fully out of soccer, I still felt like I was in it. I just couldn’t be physically,”she said.
Once her recovery had finished and she could return to the field, she said her confidence returned quickly.
“With the belief my teammates and my coaches have in me, it’s been very easy to begin believing in myself again,” Rebimbas said. “I’ve just been able to enjoy playing again, and that joy has made my confidence in my abilities skyrocket.”
Since joining the Crimson Tide, she has tallied 18 shots and scored two goals.
“Even though the SEC is really physical and really fast-paced … it was very overwhelming in the beginning, and now it feels like I’m just enjoying another game,” Rebimbas said.
She logged her first goal at Alabama when she scored the game’s first point against Louisiana Tech, helping the Crimson Tide win 4-0.
“I was on the sideline all spring, cheering on the team every single day. It was definitely a challenge, but I couldn’t have been more proud of this team,” Rebeimbas said.
