“I was told I’d never walk again”: First-year student strikes gold in national trampolining championship

One University of Northampton student has a spring in her step after recovering from serious injury and landing first place in the Over-19s UK Trampolining Championship.

Late last year, first-year student Kimberley Green scored gold in the Trampoline and DMT League, a national UK-based competition which brings together more than 1,000 competitors to go head-to-head for first place annually at the London Velodrome.

This success follows a rocky few years for Kimberley, who faced a significant set-back in her sporting career following an injury she sustained during a training session.

On her injury, Kimberley said: “While training in 2019, I suffered a full knee dislocation with breakage of four ligaments in my leg after a landing accident. After being rushed to hospital and following multi-ligament reconstruction and invasive surgeries to reset my leg, I was told I would never walk again, let alone compete in the sport I loved.

“It was incredibly difficult hearing this news, let alone trying to encourage myself to work through physiotherapy. However, with the hugely supportive team of physiotherapists and rehabilitators around me, I pushed through the mental block and achieved more than I could have dreamed of.”

Within only nine months of her injury, Kimberley had defied the odds and launched herself back into competing professionally to reclaim her national trampolining title.

Reflecting on all she has achieved so far, Kimberley says: “I’m incredibly proud of how far I have come in recent years, and credit so much of my recovery to the physiotherapists and rehabilitators who worked tirelessly with me to help me reach my dreams. It’s crazy to think in 2019 I was five minutes away from a leg amputation and told I would never walk again, and now I’ve achieved first-place in the UK National Trampolining awards.”

With her professional sporting career back on track, Kimberley enrolled with the University of Northampton through the Northampton Energy Elite Athlete Scholarship scheme, which offers student athletes a support network enabling them to balance the demands of performance sport with academic study.

On the scheme, Kimberley said: “The support I receive has been a huge part of my journey back to athletic success, as I’m supported with a wealth of general strength and conditioning training to maximise myself personally and professionally. It’s a safe space to learn correct training techniques which I can adopt in my own training schedule.

“As an athlete, we generally don’t have much time for socialising, however the twice weekly sessions I attend with my academics also give me a fantastic opportunity to meet with other athletes, such as footballers, rugby players and gymnasts. It’s nice to know I’m not alone with the non-stop training!”

Find out more about studying Sports Rehabilitation and Conditioning at the University of Northampton.