(By John Klein ’27, staff writer)
In sports, coming back from an injury is one of the hardest mountains to climb physically and mentally.
Nathan Prex started his career with the Dutchmen soccer team as the MAC rookie of the year and was an All-American his sophomore year.
Prex entered into his junior year with high hopes to have another All-American season but was battling a strained groin coming into the season and sprained his ankle with four games left to play in an unfortunate injury-riddled season.
Prex had a lot of pressure coming into his senior year and he did not want to leave anything on the table.
“My mindset was to not take anything for granted,” he said. “As soon as the fall season finished, I was growing to stay healthy, and I kept thinking that this is it. I wanted to make sure I was prepared to go for the season, so I felt that I gave it my all.”
Prex grinded to stay healthy to reach his goals for his senior season and the goals on his list are getting checked off week by week. Prex recently became the all-time leader in points and the all-time leader in goals for the dutchmen soccer team.
“I’m very grateful for the people around me that helped me recover from my injuries and the belief from my teammates,” Prex said, “It felt good to finally get it done, and I felt like I should have got it done my junior year and I was so close. The people around me continued to support me through everything and I would never take it for granted.”
Going through injuries is a hard mental and physical battle as an athlete and some people will quit when it gets hard, but Prex responded and is now one of the greatest soccer players in LVC history.
This comeback only taught him valuable lessons to stay with him through this journey.
“It helped me become a better leader, which confidence wise impacted me greatly,” he said.
Prex also credits his teammates that helped him through his battle.
“The guys around me responded positively through the process, which allowed me to believe in myself more.”
The challenges Nathan Prex faced never stopped him from reaching greatness.