With advancements in modern medicine, injured athletes typically know exactly what’s wrong with their bodies.
Junior forward Nick Surkamp did not enjoy this luxury.
Surkamp, the 2011 Atlantic Soccer Conference Player of the Year, started 19 of 20 games for Longwood that season. He led the team in scoring with 11 goals and 24 points.
His transfer to N.C. State was a big get for head coach Kelly Findley and the Wolfpack soccer program. But Surkamp never saw the field for the Pack, sitting out the entire 2012 campaign due to an unknown injury.
“I had a knee injury, which was kind of a medical mystery,” Surkamp said. “I had two surgeries and about eight injections into my knee over the course of nine to ten months without ever knowing exactly what was causing the pain. The whole time that I was out, I wasn’t able to rehab it.”
Surkamp’s uncertain situation was made worse when the 2012 Wolfpack lost 10 of its final 14 games of the season, all while the junior looked on from the bench.
“It was the worst experience of my life, by far,” Surkamp said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. Watching that season unfold the way that it did and not knowing if I was ever going to play again made it really hard because I wanted to help, but knew that I couldn’t and didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to.”
Surkamp’s issue wasn’t solved until March, when doctors found the trigger source of the junior’s pain and swelling. But by this time, the Wolfpack’s 2012 season had been over for more than four months.
Now the Manassas, Va. native is fully healthy and ready to play in competitive matches again.
State’s coaching staff will be happy to see him on the field again. Surkamp gives the Pack something it was desperately missing in 2012: a lethal, goal-scoring striker.
“He’s a finisher,” Findley said. “A lot of guys can get close to the goal and look flashy, but they can’t put the ball in the net. Nick likes that pressure. He loves being in front of goal. He likes having the burden of scoring and I think he’s really got a nose for it. Not everybody likes that pressure.”
Surkamp says that as long as his team wins, he doesn’t care scores the goals.
“I want to score at least a goal a game and put my team in the lead,” Surkamp said. “But if I don’t and someone else scores then that’s ideal too.”
Surkamp is one of seven current student-athletes that have transferred to N.C. State since Findley’s arrival on campus three years ago. Senior midfielder Alex Martinez, a 2012 first team All-ACC selection and the Wolfpack’s leading goal scorer last season, also transferred to State following the 2011 season.
Surkamp says the ambition of Findley and the Wolfpack athletics department was a major draw to him when choosing his new school.
“What made State so attractive to me is that Coach Findley was looking to establish himself at the top level of ACC soccer, just like all of these transfer students,” Surkamp said. “They’re looking to establish themselves at the top with him. Since we’re all up-and-coming players in this program and he’s [Findley] an up-and-coming coach, it’s a great fit because we can feel his winning mentality in training. Even when we’re in film, it’s an attractive thing to be around because you know he’s going to be successful.”
But the junior says he will never forget the humility his injury taught him.
“Soccer was my whole life, it was literally the only thing that I had,” Surkamp said. “Taking a step back and realizing the bigger picture changed my outlook on the game and the way that I cherish it. Every time I step on the field now, I just look at it as a new blessing and a new opportunity to get better. I have a love and a passion for the game that I always had, but it’s that much greater now just because I appreciate it so much more seeing how it can get taken away.”
Surkamp and the Wolfpack open its season Friday, on the road against Campbell.
