Injuries are an unfortunate reality for an athlete in any sport. Unfortunately, for a Howard University men’s soccer player, his injury was out of his control.
Benjamin Hoesli, a goalkeeper for the Bison, almost died last year. He was biking back to campus with some of his teammates when a car plowed into them.
“I woke up in the hospital, pretty much not knowing what was going on, but yeah, later I found out that I was just hit by a car,” said Hoesli.
Because of the accident, Hoesli fractured his skull, broke his leg and other bones in his body. He said that he was in intensive care for the weeks and hit rock bottom.
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While recovering through months of therapy, he was able to get back on his feet with support from his family, teammates and coach.
“To see his comeback, now, it’s unbelievable,” head coach Philip Gyau said. “He’s fearless. He’s doing really, really well.”
Hoesli, who’s also a senior computer science major, not only wanted to recover to return to the game. He had the chance to go to New York for a Google internship this past summer.
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“I wasn’t quite sure if I’m going to be able to make it, but I think I got cleared by the doctors, like, a week before the internship started, so I was able to make it,” said Hoesli.
The soccer team will have its first home match of the season Sunday as the two-time Howard Male Scholar Athlete of the Year finishes his last season.
“If you’re at the bottom, you don’t have to get back to where you were the first day,” Hoesli said. “I think you can take it step by step, and you also have to know there’s people around you that are willing to help.”
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