For Cassie Caldwell '23, It Was Hard-Work To Get Back To The Hardwood

Written by Michael Clapprood '25 (communication major)
- ECGulls.com Contributor from Ken Davidoff's Sports Journalism Class
(Davidoff covered Major League Baseball for 25 years for Newsday and the New York Post)

BEVERLY, Mass. – Sports are a big part of athletes' lives as they develop close lifelong relationships and show you how to deal with failure, and most importantly adversity. For Endicott women's basketball senior Cassie Caldwell (Marshfield, Mass.), she faced adversity in her high school and college years for the Endicott Gulls. She was told she "had a one-percent chance of ever playing basketball again".

In her postgraduate season in high school, Caldwell tore her ACL with two games to play. Caldwell recalled the moment very quickly.

"It happened like two minutes into the game, a girl hit me from the side, and it just blew it out," said Caldwell. 

During her first season at Endicott, Caldwell was part of a CCC Championship and an NCAA Tournament team in the 2019-20 season. Endicott's 2020-21 season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic only eight games that season (3-5 overall).

Caldwell then was sidelined for the entire 2021-2022 season. 

Working on her return to play, Caldwell experienced swelling in her knee. After this feeling, she said, "I went back to the doctors, and they misdiagnosed me, dislocating my kneecap and losing all of my cartilage. So I had another surgery, going into junior year summer, to move my kneecap back into the right spot and replace my cartilage".

Sitting out her entire junior year, she learned to appreciate the little things in life and basketball, "It just makes you appreciate all the hard work that you've put in and like all the work that people around you put in. Whether it's like the trainers or the managers or the coaching staff and all the other players, it just makes you really appreciate the people around you," Caldwell conveyed.

A unique perspective from her injury is what made her choose exercise science in the first place. Caldwell has completed internships with Bay State Physical Therapy, Orthopedics Plus Physical Therapy, Harmeling Physical Therapy, and Sports Fitness.

In 10 years, she aspires to have her doctorate in physical therapy and work to help athletes come back from injury like she did. 

Caldwell's playing days started early as a young child like all ballers with a mini ball and hoop. The Marshfield, Mass. native went to the Tilton School in Tilton, New Hampshire, and achieved the 1,000-point feat. Sports played a multi-generational part in Caldwell's life as her grandfather, Frank Luciano, played football at Boston University and with the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League.

Also, her aunt played basketball at Colby College. Finally, her other family members have played at UMass, Flagler College, Assumption College, Kennesaw State, and UMass Boston. 

During her time as a player, she is seeing how she can also impact people going through injuries. Ty Vtiko, a senior on the men's basketball team suffered a serious knee injury during the same time Cassie did, the two have formed a friendship off the court as she said, "I was helping him out and just keeping him calm, and trying to help him keep his head in it because it's a tough thing to go through mentally along with physically". 

Mental health is continuing to be a concern for college student-athletes but Caldwell did not talk to a specialist during her injury. Through her experiences, she relays that information to her teammates going through a similar setback.

"Now I can help other people and my teammate Caroline Waisnor (Lynnfield, Mass.) tore her ACL, she's been having flashbacks like I had and I was like honestly, I think it's a great idea to talk to somebody who specializes in it," Caldwell said.

Through her injuries, Caldwell took on a new role as she is an extension of the coaching staff and developed a coaching niche. She has worked with young children at youth programs and can see coaching in the future, "Just seeing from the sideline the different perspective rather than in the game. I could possibly see myself being a coach, people have mentioned it, and they think I'd be a great coach if I were to go down that career path. But I think I'd like to coach younger age groups," Caldwell mentioned.  

As coaching crossed her mind, Caldwell picked the brains of her head coach Brittany Hutchinson and assistant coach Gabriella Ferraro. Both had knee issues in their playing days which helped Caldwell connect on a more personal level, "Coach Hutchinson has been a really good mentor. So she was a good person to talk to, always talking about, you got to strengthen these muscles and now our new assistant coach, Coach Ferraro works on certain things that are more stopping and pivoting and all the stuff that an ACL injury prohibits". 

Now in her senior season for the Gulls, Cassie saw a big-time performance in a must-win game for Endicott against Wentworth scoring 15 points, knocking down four three-pointers, and also dishing out three assists. Being a floor general takes tons of leadership and courage, "As a point guard, I feel like I'm more of a facilitator rather than like looking for my shot. But being able to get those shots off and just hit them was like, okay, I can look for my own shot, you know, it was a great feeling" Caldwell said. 

After basketball, Caldwell is looking to continue her work in helping athletes get back on the field or court through physical therapy. Cassie is exploring her options but, taking everything in these last couple months before she walks across the stage in May, "I'm waiting to hear back from three physical therapy schools and then also I applied to the accelerated nursing program here at Endicott for a fifth year. So I might be back playing, which is exciting" Caldwell explained.

The adversity that Caldwell has faced will continue to stay with her and motivate her for the rest of her life.

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(Photo Credit - Nick Grace '20)