Benched. A term that every athlete loathes to hear, especially when it is in reference to his or her own status.

However, for some athletes, poor performance has not been the reason for being sidelined. Instead, it has been injury or illness that has plagued their season.

Second-year San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland has recently made sports headlines for his decision to step away from professional football in order to avoid permanent brain injury.

Forgoing millions of dollars, and even returning what money was left on his guaranteed contract out of good faith; Borland is a professional example of just how prominent injuries can be in sports.

Not only professional athletes have to deal with health issues however.

At the college and school level as well, athletes have to worry about staying healthy for their sports.

For Zoe Matje, junior, gall bladder surgery kept her sidelined from both volleyball and basketball in August.

“I had to miss the end of the volleyball season, and I also missed the very beginning of the basketball season,” Matje said.

Matje is known among her teammates as being a very instrumental component to the success of the team.

“We all couldn’t wait for her to get back. She is a really important team leader and it was a big relief to have her come back early in the season,” Kala Holder, junior, said.

Holder expressed that having Matje healthy and on the court was vital to their successful season thus far, recently winning sub-state.

“I just had to take it easy for a while after the surgery. I couldn’t push anything too hard,” Matje said about her recovery.

Deanna Bowles, junior, also was faced with physical adversity this past year. “I’m on a dance team, and I tore all the ligaments in my ankle,” Bowles said.

“When I went to do a jump, I landed wrong on my foot and I turned my ankle over. I immediately felt everything pop, and I knew that something was wrong,” Bowles said.

“I couldn’t walk for a few months, and that really was hard on me because I couldn’t dance at all which is one of my biggest passions,” Bowles said.

“I just missed competing and preforming,” Bowles said. “I was really glad to get back at it after the physical therapy that I had to do.”

Ryan Thompson, senior, has been forced to stay idle during the golf off-season due to the recent injury he sustained in a recreational hockey league.

“I was playing in a hockey game, and I and another player collided, and I broke my arm when I fell on the ice,” Thompson said.

Thompson aspires to play golf in college next year, and he doesn’t think that this injury will keep him from his dream.

“I should be able to still play this season. I should be healed by the time we play against other schools, and I’ve still been working out and lifting weights during this off-season to prepare,” Thompson said.

Dennis Dolan, athletic trainer, has seen hundreds of injures, both severe and otherwise, come through his office over the years.

“Ligament sprains, muscle strains, and contact injuries are the most common as well as the easiest to return from,” Dolan said.

“Concussions are very difficult because they are unique to the individual. Also anything that requires surgery can be season-ending,” Dolan said,

“Although usually I can get you back better than you were before you were injured.”