Oaks Christian soccer’s Kailey Supa back scoring goals after injury sidelined her for two seasons
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WESTLAKE VILLAGE — Oaks Christian girls soccer player Kailey Supa tore her ACL on Feb. 27 during her sophomore season. Yes, she remembers the exact date.
She looked at her teammate Berkley Mape and said: “I heard a pop.”
Mape’s heart dropped. Later, Supa told her teammates the results of her MRI at a practice and broke down in tears. Her teammates cried with her. And for the next two seasons, Supa didn’t join the Lions on the field for a game.
“She’s obviously been one of our best players forever,” Mape said. “It sucked going to practice without her and then playing games without her. It just felt weird.”
Now a senior and team captain, Supa is committed to Long Beach State and ranks third on the team in goals with six and has five assists. The Lions have shut out every opponent in league play so far and could be looking at their first undefeated league campaign since joining the Marmonte League.
Supa can shoot with either foot. She’s relentless, according to coach Sebastian Alvarado, and has the ability to score in limitless situations with just about any part of her body.
“It’s not pretty sometimes,” Alvarado said, “but she gets the job done.”
Supa’s ACL and meniscus tears caused her to miss two full seasons, her sophomore and junior years. (The 2020-2021 season was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.)
It also meant the Lions were without her abilities, yet she kept her smile, although it wasn’t as bright as usual.
“My mind was all over the place during recovery,” Supa said. “I had to, in a way, put up a front because it was kind of sad that I couldn’t get to play and see people succeed and I wanted to succeed as well.”
She was still present with the team, though she missed a few practices to attend her physical therapy. Soccer still dominated her mind as she balanced schoolwork, her recovery and supporting her team.
Supa jokes that physical therapy became her new hobby and said she loved having conversations with her physical therapists — not surprising, given her bubbly, talkative nature.
Physical therapy became a form of mental therapy, too. It was an opportunity to step away from the sport and and gave her clarity.
“Being injured re-sparked my love for soccer on a whole other level because I just missed it so much,” Supa said.
“I wanted to come back my senior year because I wanted to play in college. So in order to play in college, I’ve got to keep a repetition up, get my touches in. But I really wanted to be able to play with my friends.”
Supa could have forgone her senior season. She suffered a concussion in the club season that delayed her playing this season for Oaks Christian. And with club soccer and a college commitment in hand, her soccer career would have continued.
Her love for the sport and desire for continuity brought her back, and overcoming her injury to the extent that she has impressed those around her.
“She’s an athlete,” Alvarado said. “So at the end of the day, unfortunately if she gets injured again, she’ll bounce back and she has that determination to do well and ultimately I know she will have a lot of success at that next level playing in college.”
Supa scored her first goal this season against Thousand Oaks earlier this month. The ball was crossed to her and she headed it in, a move that she admits was risky after coming out of concussion protocol.
Her teammates rushed her and buried her in hugs. Instead of crying together over MRI results, the team is now smiling.
“It felt really good because I could see happiness in everybody,” Supa said. “Everybody’s cheering for me and everybody was so welcoming. I just felt really good knowing I had a good support system.”