Charlie Savala has missed nearly a year of rugby and still not played for his new team, Glasgow Warriors. But he has drawn on lessons learned from injuries in his teens to emerge stronger mentally and physically.  

The three words that every athlete dreads: Anterior Cruciate Ligament. ACL. I got injured last April playing for Northampton Saints and was sent for scans on my knee. When Saints’ head of medical, Matt Lee, asked me to come into his office the following week – rather than speak on the phone – I was bracing myself for bad news. Then came those three letters – ACL.

Prior to the injury I had been in a really good place with my rugby. I was either going to re-sign for Northampton or move to Glasgow Warriors. Then, in the weeks leading up to the injury, I made the decision to sign for Warriors, so I knew I would be joining up with them in the summer. It was a really exciting time. But, when I got the injury, straight away I knew what the long road ahead would look like – Saints had four or five players with ACL injuries – so that’s where my head went.

But let’s pause here because this is not my ‘injury’ story. I’m not writing this to make it about myself. I’m writing this because injuries are part of sport. As an elite sportsperson they are an occupational hazard, but they also happen in grassroots sport – and if you’re reading this as a sport-loving teenager, maybe you don’t have access to the medical support I’ve had. Maybe there are insights and knowledge that I can pass on through my experiences, not just of this injury, but of previous ones.

So, let’s take it back a bit. As a teenager, I had three shoulder reconstructions. It took a lot of hard work to get through those, but I made it. And I think it made me resilient – which is a quality every sportsperson needs. Let me say one more thing about resilience. I think resilience comes from passion – if you’re passionate about a sport, and it’s taken away from you for however long, then you want to get back doing the thing you love. If you have that passion, you’ll always find a way.  

I don't think I could have got through this ACL injury without those experiences as a teenager. It instilled in me a work ethic, but it also helped me appreciate that rugby isn’t everything in my life, as much as I love the sport. Even at that young age, I tried to keep as busy as I could with things away from the sport. Being a good person and working hard became part of my identity.  

As a young sportsperson, injury is very hard because you measure yourself against others all the time. You’re trying to make teams and be competitive. It’s such a big part of how you see yourself. And that can make injury even more difficult. But my advice is to look at it from a practical point of view. 

Break down the injury into chunks (especially important with a longer-term injury like an ACL), work out the stages of recovery – and try to measure yourself in terms of your gym markers, try to hit your scores better than you did yesterday. And all the time, be aware of how you’re feeling. Some days you might not feel in the right space – be honest about that and be easy on yourself at those times. But then push yourself when you feel like you can.  

My first target with this injury was to get back running. And a good marker for me was the leg press machine – to the physios said that when I could leg press one-and-a-half times my body weight, I could start running. So, those first few weeks were just in the gym, building up my strength and getting the swelling down – working towards getting back running. After that, it was about trying to hit the next marker, and the next one.  

It also helps to think about how you can develop other parts of your game – and how you can become a better person off the field. That last one is a massive challenge. Being injured gives you time to reflect on yourself as a person – as a sportsperson at any level, sport is a big part of your identity. When you're injured, a lot of people say you've got to do something to keep your mind off it, but I only wanted to do something that I'm passionate about. I spoke to a couple of the coaches in the Scotland Pathway and asked if I could lend a hand. Doing some community coaching, being able to work with kids at university who have aspirations to play at a higher level – that’s something I've really enjoyed.

I’ve hit a few more markers now. I’m getting closer. My patience has been tested a lot over the past nine months, but it’s turned out to be a really exciting period for me. At the end of it, I’ll be back doing the thing I’m most passionate about – and I’ll get to pull on the Warriors jersey for the first time.