During a summer training session back home in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, redshirt junior defender Leah Klurman felt a sharp pain shoot down her right leg.
“I immediately knew something was seriously wrong,” Klurman said. “I could barely move my right leg.”
When she returned to Knoxville, doctors ordered an MRI, which revealed a completely blown-out disc in her lower back. The injury required surgery, as the disc was pressing on nerves in her lower back, limiting her movement.
“Multiple specialists told me surgery was unavoidable,” she said. “Hearing that was devastating.”
The diagnosis came just a week before her sophomore campaign, ending months of training and preparation Klurman had put in since the spring. As a freshman, she had begun to carve out a role on the Lady Vols’ back line, appearing in six matches and logging 120 minutes, including SEC contests against Kentucky and South Carolina.
Though she had received injections to manage her lingering back pain during her freshman season, she had never experienced anything like this.
“I’d never had issues in high school,” Klurman said. “So to be told I needed surgery was heartbreaking.”
Her injury was one that the team had to monitor during her freshman season, head coach Joe Kirt said, before realizing it had become more serious.
“She was pushing to get herself into a great place, and it just went on her,” Kirt said. “We didn’t know what exactly it was going to look like, and then it got into a place where she just needed to step away and rest.”
The news marked the start of a six-month-long recovery process. Klurman underwent surgery that summer, beginning a long rehabilitation program that kept her off the field and away from her normal training.
“I broke down when I heard the news,” Klurman said.
Following the surgery, she had to relearn simple movements, from walking to tying her shoes.
“It was incredibly tough to accept,” Klurman said. “The hardest part of my rehab wasn’t just the physical recovery, it was the mental battle that came with it. Physically, I could handle the workouts and the pain, but staying patient and disciplined was the real challenge.”
Klurman’s roommate, senior midfielder Mac Midgley, said that Klurman’s attitude set an example for others in the recovery group.
It was a gracious mindset that allowed her to benefit from the misfortune, setting an example for her teammates.
“She was always about the team,” Midgley said. “I never heard her complaining, and it was never about her. She did a great job and was a standout to all those who were injured, since they all followed how she carried herself.”
Senior defender Ally Brown, Klurman’s other roommate and teammate on the back line, said her consistency and leadership have been important since her return.
Klurman’s vocal leadership on the backline, Brown says, allows her to be more vocal.
“We have a chemistry where I know where she’s going to be,” Brown said. “We cover for each other, and it’s very comforting to have her on the field.”
Now that she’s back on the pitch, her growth and maturity have been evident.
“We need players in the back line that are going to be consistent and that we can rely on,” Kirt said. “She’s got a great understanding of what that expectation is. Her ability to meet it comes down to her physicality and ability to match up with strong, athletic and fast forwards.”
Klurman was cleared to run again by December, just as Tennessee’s 2023 season came to an end. Though the year was over, her small milestone marked major progress.
“It was an incredible feeling,” Klurman said. “All the hard work I put into physical therapy had finally paid off. I didn’t realize how much I missed running until that first time I was cleared to do it again.”
Klurman spent the winter back home in New Jersey, focusing on building strength and mobility before returning to Knoxville for spring training.
“Mentally, I had to shift my mindset from fear to trust,” she said. “Instead of worrying about getting hurt again, I focused on how much work I had put in to get to that point.”
When she rejoined team practices in the spring, her body was ready, but hesitation lingered. Trusting her body again didn’t happen right away. Every cut, sprint and tackle brought a reminder of what she had been in the past year.
“Every movement made me overthink whether my back could handle it,” Klurman said. “Once I got back into practices and lifts, I struggled mentally with the fear of reinjury. Learning to trust my back again took time, confidence and a lot of mental strength.”
Through consistent training and gradual progress during spring and summer practices, Klurman found her rhythm again.
“What helped me most was slowly building confidence through repetition — starting small, proving to myself that I could move without pain, and gradually pushing my limits,” she said. “My trainers and coaches were great about easing me back in while keeping me accountable, which made a huge difference.”
By the start of her redshirt sophomore season, Klurman had worked her way into a starting role on Tennessee’s defensive rotation. Each game brought a reminder of how far she had come since her surgery.
“The moment my feet hit the ground, it reminded me how much I love running, and I’ll never take it for granted again,” Klurman said.
Since returning to full competition, Klurman has become a key contributor for the Lady Vols. She logged 1,394 minutes in her redshirt sophomore season and has already tallied 1,244 minutes this year. Defensively, she has been instrumental, helping Tennessee allow only seven goals this season.
“She’s one of the toughest people I know,” Brown said. “She’s been through a lot with injuries and has continued to show up every day and is relentless.”
Her impact isn’t limited to defense. Klurman scored her first career goal this season, a deep strike against LSU that earned a spot at number six on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.
“Her experience, leadership and confidence speaks volumes to what we think of her and the trust she’s earned from her teammates,” Kirt said. “It’s a big part of what we do in terms of how we play with the ball. She’s been a big part of that, and I’m really proud of her for stepping into that role.”
“She’s hard on the exterior, but she has a soft soul,” Kirt added. “She’s very proud of who she is and how hard she’s worked to get here. She has that Jersey edge at times, but she’s also caring and supportive. She has the hard exterior we need on the field, but the softness and care are tremendous from her.”
