Her Ledford teammates jokingly called the coughing and wheezing the “Stroup croup.”

As she walked up to the tennis courts last Monday, Kathryn Stroup called it a non-factor – she would be in the lineup. Skeptical Panthers coach Randy Grimes told his No. 2 singles player to grab her racket for a warmup session. Three minutes later, fighting to catch her breath, Stroup declared herself fit for action. Grimes banished her to the bench, where she rested for two matches.

Some kids don’t mind the occasional day off during the season, but Stroup’s never been one to shy away from challenges.

Not after being born with a club foot that easily could have ended an athletic career before it began.

And not after last year’s ATV accident that easily could have ended a life scarcely begun.

“I look at everything totally different now,” Stroup said. “It’s so amazing to think that I could’ve died so easily, and now to be back playing tennis, nothing wrong with me – it’s awesome.”

Stroup’s tennis career began years ago at High Point Christian Academy, where she competed despite constant soreness in her left foot. Stroup’s right foot – “my big foot,” she said with a laugh – measures a petite size 6. The left foot is some three sizes smaller after not developing properly in the womb. The foot turned in, “like a golf club,” Stroup offered.

The scars from multiple surgeries to treat the deformity used to make Stroup self-conscious, she admitted.

“Now, I’m over it. People are like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even notice it,’ ” Stroup said. “Dang – what was I so afraid of? Now I don’t care.”

Certainly no one ever notices a difference in Stroup’s game as the junior piles up wins for the talented Ledford squad. And truth be told, the club foot has become a mere footnote now in the context of what took place Sept. 9, 2008.

Stroup and her boyfriend were at Farmington Dragway in Mocksville taking in the action from an all-terrain vehicle. Stroup wasn’t wearing a helmet – all they were doing was driving across a smooth, flat, paved parking lot, after all.

Then Stroup slipped off the back and hit her head on that parking lot.

Grimes recalled getting a message about an accident. Fearing the worst, he arrived at Wake Forest University’s Baptist Medical Center and began an uncomfortable waiting game.

“That’s a coach’s nightmare when you see one of your players laying in that bed with all the monitors hooked up to her,” Grimes said. “That beautiful face was all bruised up. She had just gone from being Kathryn to being at death’s door.”

Stroup possesses only fleeting memories from those first days after the accident, which caused six fractures – three in her face and three elsewhere in the head – along with the more troubling bleeding in the brain. There was that one day in the hospital when the morphine made even the most rudimentary tasks difficult, she offered with a laugh. And the time just after her release from the hospital when team photos were scheduled.

Another laugh: Those shots didn’t come out so well.

But Stroup was in the photos, which meant a lot. And what did come out well were the brain scans. Doctors said Stroup’s tests were normal, which eased concerns regarding long-term impairment.

The road to recovery included a visit from the Panthers, who brought candy, cards and balloons to Stroup’s house. Considering the HPCA transfer had been at Ledford all of a month before the accident, the outpouring of support touched her deeply.

“It was awesome to have somebody care about you that much,” she said.

As for the day Stroup made her first visit to see Ledford on the courts, well – Grimes called it one of the most memorable days of his life.

“I heard a couple of the girls gasp and all of the team turned around as she was coming down the steps,” the long-time Panthers coach recalled. “It was awesome. I think that completed the healing process for all of us when we saw her back at the court. It was quite an occasion.”

Stroup continued bonding with her new teammates throughout last year and grew particularly close to Tiffany Vanhpraseuth, the Panthers’ No. 1 player. “I’ve never been as close to somebody as I am with Tiffany,” Stroup offered.

Together, they form the top part of a singles lineup rarely beaten and scarcely challenged this year. Ledford wrapped up the Mid-Piedmont 3A Conference championship last week and will enter the playoffs as a team to watch – just like all those years in the 2A ranks prior to this season’s realignment.

Only this fall, Stroup will be part of the action.

“She’s just the best of all worlds,” Grimes summed up of Stroup. “She is the epitome of Southern grace and the tenacity of a bulldog as soon as she walks on the court. I’ve never really had a child who could turn that switch on like that before: ‘Who am I going to rip today?’ focused, intense. And then she’s got that heart-warming smile that just melts me.”

Not to mention her teammates.

“We’re all so close now, really tight,” Stroup said. “It’s fun. I have a bunch of sisters on the team.”

Brought together by tragedy and now united as they work toward a common goal. Sure, it’ll be a challenge for Ledford in the 3A playoffs this fall. But Stroup and the Panthers have handled challenges pretty well so far.

shanf@hpe.com | 888-3526