Four days after ACL surgery. Pain meds. 63,000 fans. And Malala on the field.

That's how Jasmine Aikey experienced Denver Summit FC's historic home opener — not as a player, but as a rookie who tore her ACL at a national team camp before playing a single professional minute.

In her first podcast interview since the injury, Denver Summit FC forward Jasmine Aikey sits down with Kate to tell the whole story. From growing up in Palo Alto and homeschooling at 13 to keep pace with youth national team camps, to graduating Stanford with a 3.97 GPA in computer science, winning the Hermann Trophy, and now rebuilding her knee in Denver while her teammates play games without her.

She also talks about the junior year nobody covers — playing center back through undiagnosed osteitis pubis, breaking her fibula, having surgery with a plate and screws, and then coming back to lead the nation in points her senior year. And she answers the question she gets asked constantly right now: what does a day actually look like? Spoiler — it involves her dad bringing breakfast because she still can't drive.

This is a conversation about what it takes to keep getting back up.

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