Aidan Morris grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, home to the Columbus Crew’s preseason training camp.
After being scouted for the club’s Training Academy, he moved to New Albany, attending New Albany High School and playing for the academy for two years.
Upon his graduation in 2019, Morris attended Indiana University, playing one season for the Hoosiers before signing his first professional contract with the Crew.
Morris’s first season with the Crew was phenomenal – which is more than can be said for his second season.
“It was the second game of the (2021) season,” Morris says. “The first home game, and two minutes in, I tore my ACL.”
Just 20 at the time, Morris watched his professional athletic career flash before his eyes. But that wasn’t the end of his journey: It was the beginning of a new one with Orthopedic One.
Orthopedic One provides the physicians and muscular skeletal specialists for the Crew. Geoff Omiatek, the Crew’s physical therapist, was a pivotal part of Morris’s journey to recovery.
“I got to know Aidan while I was taking care of all the other guys.” Omiatek says. “When we saw him tear his ACL, we knew what this journey was going to be. Luckily, I had a relationship with (Morris) already.”
The Crew’s physician, Dr. Scott Van Steyn, repaired Morris’s ACL about a week and a half after the injury. Following surgery, Morris began a year-long rehab with Omiatek.
“Starting rehab was a big shift,” Morris says. “Learning to walk again, strengthening my quads.”
Omiatek says ACL rehab is generally 9-12 months for a professional athlete.
“I thought to myself, ‘I need to take (rehab) seriously,’” Morris says. “This is my practice now. This is my career.”
He completed 10-12 sessions per week, some in Orthopedic One’s clinics and others in the Crew’s training facilities.
“The more work I did, the better I felt,” Morris says. “(The sessions) made me feel like I was going somewhere.”
“There were a lot of ‘what ifs,’” Omiatek says. “‘What if I don’t get back? What if I’m slower?’ I just had to work with him, get him to the next step.”
Around the nine- or 10-month mark, Morris was ready to start working with the Crew’s performance team again.
“I was starting from scratch,” he says. “I went onto the field, learned how to run, jog, accelerate again. I had to progress into working with the ball, doing things faster, working with my teammates.”
After a full year of recovery, Morris returned to Lower.com Field for the 2022 season. He started as a midfielder in 19 of the Crew’s 25 games, and achieved an accurate pass percentage of 88.5.
Morris says he came out of the recovery journey a better person than he entered.
“(The injury) changed how I take care of my body: how I think, eat, act,” he says. “I found out a lot of things about myself. It took me to where I am today.”
Omiatek continues to work with Morris and the rest of the Crew.
“It’s fun to see (players) get back,” he says. “I watch the games and just enjoy the fact that someone like Aidan, or a lot of his teammates who I’ve worked with, is back doing his passion, which is his occupation. He’s only getting better. He has a bright future in front of him.”
Omiatek says Morris is just one example of the recovery journey that thousands of athletes embark on. Orthopedic One’s mission statement is patients first, and Morris’s triumphant return is a testament to that.
“Every injury is a journey. Surround yourself with really good people, trust them, trust your physician, trust your therapist and understand that it’s a process,” Omiatek says. “Don’t focus on what you can’t do; focus on what you can do.”
Megan Roth is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
