National Courage Finalist, Allie Leib, is seeking great outcomes in her future. Whether it be with her basketball team, or as a lead in the school’s musical. She is staying strong with her one year ACL recovery. While she is not fully cleared, she’s still out dancing.
The National Courage Award is through Jersey Mike’s and allows coaches, the community, and students to submit senior basketball players who have overcome something. If she were to win, she would get $5,000 and $2,000 for the school.
Leib said during the interview that she is, “Very much humbled by it all. I thought that the only people who needed to know my story were those around me, and that was honestly good enough for me. I was still showing up for the people around me. That’s all that mattered, but the fact that people on a committee voted for it and found my story worth sharing that’s super cool. I hope that my story will encourage another athlete to get back up.”
While she can’t be playing with her team on the court, she has channeled it in other ways by showing up and supporting them. Not letting her inability to play affect the energy she brings to her team, is exactly the type of courage that got her nominated for this award.
While she plays it off as nothing, Leib stays strong. Moving on from the injury, Leib was excited to rejoin her teammates on the court and have her dad, Coach Richard Leib, coaching her again. After finding out that she would have to sit out of yet another season, she was devastated.
“Every single time that I was told I needed surgery, my mom would give me a couple minutes to feel sorry about myself and then say ‘we gotta move on, we gotta figure out how we’re gonna face it.’ My dad as well, he cares so much about [me and my recovery]. So just them being there, they’re just the best.” She exclaimed.
Leib’s biggest supporters through everything, have been her family. Surrounding herself with kindhearted and genuine people has made her healing a bit more easier.
As she reflected on her high school career, she’s come to terms with the fact that sports aren’t about the minutes you play, rather the impact you leave off the court. She’s been able to walk away satisfied with the fact that maybe she didn’t play many minutes, but she still was a good teammate and made an impact.
“If you find yourself going through something hard, try to find a different way to look at it, because there’s always a positive side to it. Try to figure out how you can become better after.”
Leib’s belief that “Positivity will overpower anything” have gotten the young athlete this far, and will continue to do so as she goes on with life.
