A 22-year-old clipping from a South African newspaper captures a tender moment with a mother and her newborn child. The one-day-old has her hand on a field hockey stick.
The caption reads, “Born with hockey stick in hand.”
With a mother and sister who played for South Africa, Danielle Forword has never been far from a stick. When wielding one, she is seemingly never far from goal.
But for much of last season, the North Carolina forward was forced to keep her greatest distance from the game — the 35 yards from goal to the sideline, where Forword stayed after suffering a season-ending ACL injury against Boston College last October.
“Hockey is something very emotional to her,” athletic trainer Scott Oliaro said. “When we took that away, you took a piece of her away.”
To stand outside the confines of the field proved painful. She won’t have to much longer.
“If I’m on the field for the Michigan game,” she said, “I will be coming out of my cage.”
Impact on the field
On October 10, Forword controlled the ball at midfield like she had done countless times before.
She planted her right knee. Then she heard the pop of her ACL tearing.
After the shutout loss, teammate Illse Davids couldn’t help but hear the reverberations.
“It was just a huge blow,” Davids said. “It was really an emotional weekend for everyone.”
When Forword injured her knee, she was the nation’s second leading scorer. In the 12 games preceding her injury, Forword recorded 16 goals and four assists.
“Dani is a special talent, and Dani is an on-field leader,” coach Karen Shelton said. “We lost our offensive firepower.”
In the final nine games of the season, UNC recorded four losses.
On the sidelines with knee in brace, Forword finished the season as the team’s leading scorer.
“We tried to play for Dani,” Davids said. “We knew her heart was on the field.”
Mental rehab
One day, Forword approached her athletic trainer with tears in her eyes.
“Injury is a selfish thing,” she said. “I’m asking, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ My dad said, ‘Dani, it’s not about you. Go to practice and ask someone how they are doing instead of getting so wrapped up in what’s happening to you.’ It opened my eyes.”
So too did anonymous evaluations, in which teammates identified new leadership qualities that Forword exhibited on the sidelines. Care. Compassion. Both those qualities were evident as she helped coach a young attacking unit struggling to fill the void she left.
A trip home to South Africa in June offered even more perspective.
Growing up, Forword watched as her older sister Candice and mother, Beverly, represented their home country of South Africa with matching No. 9 jerseys.
She also saw racial quotas deny them the opportunities to travel with Olympic and national teams. On the streets she saw poverty and children who did not have the means to play.
“I’m fortunate if this is the worst thing that has happened to me,” she said.
“I went home and said, ‘Wow, Dani, that’s the worst thing? That’s pretty good.’”
Out of the cage
When Forword returned to the field after a trip home to South Africa, Oliaro cleared her to rejoin team practices. Forword has been participating in one of the team’s two-a-day practices since her return.
“I think it’s made her a stronger person,” Davids said. “It feels like she can take on the world.”
Forword is aware of the team’s national title expectations, but for the moment, she is appreciating the simple offerings of the game.
“When you’re doing something every day, it becomes monotonous,” she said. “But when something’s taken away from you, and you’re not allowed to have it, it renews that passion. It’s reinvigorated that passion for me.”
Forword becomes emotional. She says she is ready to take back the field.
Reborn with hockey stick in hand.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
Looking ‘Forword’ to return
Despite her season-ending injury in 2008, UNC senior Dani Forword still led the team with 25 goals. DTH/Colleen Cook
