<p>The most memorable kill recorded by a Center Grove volleyball player this season happened in a match the Trojans were winning handily.</p>
<p>Calista Stafford elevated, and not surprisingly, it’s had the same effect on those around her.</p>
<p>Stafford, a 6-foot senior outside hitter who missed most of the regular season after undergoing two offseason surgeries on her right knee, returned in a three-set sweep at North Central on Sept. 10 and gains confidence with each match she plays.</p>
<p>The first will always be special.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
<p>“It brought tears to my eyes the first kill that she got,” Center Grove coach Chris Due said. “The other team took a timeout, and I couldn’t even go in the huddle because I was in tears. I was so proud, and the team jumped off the bench and was cheering for her.</p>
<p>“I just think to see everything she’s gone through, it really was a unique situation to see the team rally around her.”</p>
<p>During her freshman year, Stafford began experiencing occasional pain in her right knee, a result of playing her favorite sports as much as possible since seventh grade.</p>
<p>“It started from overuse because I did travel basketball, school basketball, travel volleyball and school volleyball year-around since I was 12,” Stafford said. “When I was 14 it started bothering me, and I started running different.”</p>
<p>Since the start of her junior season, Stafford has endured a lot. Despite playing in pain, she led Center Grove in kills as a junior with 248.</p>
<p>“Calista just kept playing because she never complains about anything,” said Stafford’s mother, Christy. “She basically played half of the season on one leg.”</p>
<p>After the season ended with a regional loss to Providence, Stafford underwent two surgeries, completed numerous hours of rehabilitation and experienced the uncertainty associated with wondering if she would ever play volleyball at the standard she had set for herself.</p>
<p>She was diagnosed with Osteochondritis dissecans, which is any type of damage to articular cartilage and underlying subchondral bone. On Dec. 21, Stafford had arthroscopic surgery performed by Dr. Brian Cole, an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.</p>
<p>She returned to the same center on Feb. 26 to undergo a second surgery, this one to replace the cartilage and bone with cadaver cartilage and bone.</p>
<p>Stafford was able to put weight on the knee after the first surgery, though she said it was difficult to walk. After the second, she used crutches for eight weeks so not to put weight on the knee.</p>
<p>“It was awful,” said Stafford, who whispered the last word for emphasis. “But I was determined to come back. My strength isn’t back to 100 percent, but it hasn’t been 100 percent since I was probably, like, 13.”</p>
<p>Jim and Christy Stafford’s younger daughter, Rosie, 15, a sophomore at Center Grove and her big sister’s most ardent supporter, was born with muscular dystrophy. This, Christy said, has given Calista a unique perspective for someone her age on the things that are most important.</p>
<p>Case in point, Stafford, whose 4.6 grade-point average has her ranked 12th academically in a class of approximately 630 students, refused to sit around and feel sorry for herself while recuperating. Stafford spent the time wisely, putting in over 100 hours of community service and joining her school’s debate team, among other things.</p>
<p>“We’re so proud of her,” Christy said. “She’s made lemonade out of lemons.”</p>
<p>Coach and player hope Stafford is close to 100 percent once the Class 4A sectional at Franklin gets underway on Oct. 15. Center Grove’s depth and overall talent level have allowed Due to bring her back slowly.</p>
<p>“Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect this season because of the timetable of her surgery,” Due said. “She wasn’t really cleared to play until more the middle of the season, so honestly, it’s been kind of a waiting game and a slow progression seeing how she is day to day and how her knee is feeling.</p>
<p>“Calista has worked so hard during those months of trying to rehab. Having her back, I think it means a ton to those other players. She’s been a big part of this program for many years now. They’ve seen what she had to go through.”</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p><p><strong>Johnson County tournament</strong></p>
<p><strong>Today</strong></p>
<p>Franklin at Edinburgh, 6 p.m.</p>
<p>Indian Creek at Greenwood, 7 p.m.</p>
<p>Greenwood Christian at Whiteland, 7 p.m.</p>
<p><strong>Thursday</strong></p>
<p><strong>At Edinburgh</strong></p>
<p>Indian Creek-Greenwood winner vs. Franklin-Edinburgh winner, 5:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Center Grove vs. GCA-Whiteland winner, 5:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Championship, 7 p.m.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
