2024 Fall Preps Preview: University girls soccer star Carsyn Gildehaus returns to pitch after series of concussions

Fluorescent lights beaming down in her University High School classrooms forced Carsyn Gildehaus to wear sunglasses during class.

Her driving privileges were revoked, stunting her freedom, and extreme nausea limited most activity.

That is what healing from a concussion can look like – disruptions making seemingly normal mundane tasks difficult.

Gildehaus, who is starting her junior season as the reigning Greater Spokane League girls soccer offensive player of the year, spent much of her sophomore year of high school recovering from and dealing with the repercussions of multiple head injuries in a short amount of time.

The first incident occurred in a 2023 soccer postseason game when she fell after leaping for a header – and tumbled headfirst to the turf. Her mom, Brenda Gildehaus, was in the bleachers on the opposite side of the field from where it happened, and she heard her daughter’s head slam the ground.

“My heart … I don’t even know how to explain it, was just in my stomach,” she said. “I felt very, very sick because we’ve never had to deal with head trauma. You really just don’t think it’s going to happen to your kid – until it does.”

Carsyn, a former three-sport athlete, suffered her second concussion during the basketball season when she collided with an opponent on a loose ball. She was later involved in a vehicle collision with a snowplow on her way to an appointment for her head, which she said made her injury even worse.

“It was definitely a new experience,” Gildehaus said. “I’ve heard things about concussions, but honestly I never thought they could happen to me.”

Prognosis and recovery

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a concussion as a type of traumatic brain injury caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, creating chemical changes in the brain and sometimes stretching and damaging brain cells.

Gildehaus struggled with recovery, going through periods of positive progress that made it seem like she was over the hump. But then she would be unable to recall her middle name or be forced to leave school due to unrelenting nausea.

Concussion recovery is even more difficult to track and recover since it’s an injury that can’t be seen. It ’s different than a broken bone or a ruptured tendon with set recovery times and imaging that clearly shows the progress of healing.

The Gildehauses found a recovery home at Shriners Children’s Hospital to help Carsyn through her healing.

“Shriners was a godsend,” Brenda Gildehaus said. Brenda and Carsyn lauded Dr. Ryan Baker, along with the nurses and physical therapists who worked with her along the way.

“He could just open your eyes like there’s no tomorrow about (concussions) because he really opened mine as, not only as a parent, but also as a former coach,” Brenda said.

Advocacy and normalcy

Brenda Gildehaus, who lives with multiple sclerosis, attempted to do everything she could to keep some sort of normalcy, helping coordinate schoolwork when Carsyn couldn’t leave the house.

“I know what that feeling of helplessness is like,” Brenda Gildehaus said.

“It’s something we need to look at, because these are our kids and our kids become adults, and then they can live with agonizing problems, potentially, if we don’t take it seriously,” Brenda said. “Your kid may seem invincible to you, but really we are as a human race, kind of fragile. These are children that we are raising to become, hopefully, contributing, giving, caring and successful parts of society.”

Carsyn Gildehaus has since become a concussion advocate.

“I think among the younger generation, it needs to be normalized,” Gildehaus said. “And I also feel like in the school setting as well.”

A 4.0 GPA student, Gildehaus needed extra assistance and adjusted timelines. She confirmed struggling socially as peers didn’t understand how the injury was affecting her. There were no crutches or a walking boot – but a girl whose neurons weren’t firing properly because of an injured brain that had no timetable of recovery.

“I do well in school, I love paying attention, love learning – and everything just became hard,” Carsyn Gildehaus said. “I could barely go to school. I’d have to go at different times of the day because my head … I just couldn’t focus.”

Back on the pitch

Finally cleared for contact, Carsyn Gildehaus is hoping to lead U-Hi (12-5, 7-2 in 2023) back to the top of the GSL for the first time since 2005. The Titans also won in 1998 when head coach Kara Sharpe – the 2023 coach of the year – was a player.

The green light comes with high expectations after scoring 17 goals last season. And don’t expect her to alter her style after her stay on the sidelines. She spent the first bit of time back on the field learning how to play hard again – the first few challenges in the air led to apprehension. It took four to five months to get past the feeling she was going to end up with another brain injury.

“I like to play really fast -paced games, I love creativity. I’ll watch (Brazilian soccer star) Neymar play, he’s one of my idols I watch all the time,” she said.

“She is a real team player, a very humble leader, and she wants her team to do well,” Sharpe said. “She’s the one when we’re down or it’s a tight game, she wants the ball. She wants to be the person who isn’t afraid to close out a game.”

Epidemic of head injuries

After five players left games with concussions in 2023 – out of 17 on the roster – Sharpe is glad head injuries are a priority from the top down in athletics. She has noticed an increase of attention to combat head injuries from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and the GSL.

That’s due, in part, to the Zackery Lystedt law passed in 2009, which requires removing athletes who have a possible concussion from play, no matter the sport, and to be examined and cleared by a licensed health care provider before returning to play.

Washington State law requires all public schools to annually report each diagnosed concussion sustained during athletic and/or other activities. According to the state, between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, 1,995 concussions were reported, or 18.2 per 10,000 students. According to the CDC, 1 in 10 student athletes in contact sports – such as soccer – sustain concussions yearly.

“All of these horrible things that can happen to you from concussions, I think that it’s just so imperative that we put that as our No. 1 priority is the player’s safety, especially when it comes to their brain,” Sharpe said.

The experience has changed Gildehaus and forced a more mature approach to her sport.

“It was eye opening, and I was like, ‘Man, any day soccer could be taken from me,’ ” she said. “So, from now on I always step on the field and I’m just super thankful of every opportunity I get to play.”