CJW/Times-Dispatch Comeback Players of the Year All three remember the uncertainty whether they'd play the sport they loved.

That episode played out for Hanover High's Kirk Rohle when doctors assessed his torn anterior cruciate ligament in February 2006 and told him not to count on playing football, wrestling and baseball again.

Taylor Thornton, of Patrick Henry High, felt frustrated when she first wore two titanium rods along her spine after doctors diagnosed her with severe scoliosis as an eighth-grader in July 2003. The titanium rods limited movements on the volleyball court, such as bending over, digs and roll dives.

Two different parties -- one encouraging, another skeptical -- greeted Cayla Toups when she tore her anterior cruciate ligament her freshman year with the Richmond Volleyball Club's 15 national team. The reaction only magnified when Toups, of Lee-Davis High School, tore her ACL again a year later.

After persevering, the reaction now is different.

Rohle, Thornton and Toups earned the CJW/Times-Dispatch Comeback Athletes of the Year Scholarship, worth $1,000 and an additional $500 to their respective high schools.

"I decided to listen to the people that encouraged me," Toups said. "I listened to the negative things people said and used it as motivation. I wanted to prove everybody wrong."

Mission accomplished.

Rohle (Hampden-Sydney), Thornton (Virginia Wesleyan) and Toups (James Madison) feel grateful for the money that will help offset college expenses. But they felt more satisfied with the honor itself, signifying a storied chapter that involved each athlete overcoming not one, but two setbacks.

Toups fought through two ACL injuries, both which required surgery. She said the physical therapy entailed regaining strength in her legs. The first involved four months of recovery, the second six to eight months. After the second injury, Toups displayed more confidence in her recovery since she already felt familiar with physical therapy.

That's the exact thought that popped in Rohle's head when he injured his ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow during a wrestling tournament in February 2008.

"I already went through it before, why not do it again?" Rohle said. "If you want to get back on the field, you got to do what you got to do."

After recovering strength in his legs, Rohle now had to wear a brace to address his UCL injury. Thornton also experienced two separate setbacks, including scoliosis and diabetes, which she learned only a month after finding out she had scoliosis.

Thornton took five insulin shots a day and brought snacks to games to control her sugar intake.

"I put so many years in volleyball that it seemed stupid to stop," Thornton said. "I was told it would be a good idea in keeping control of the diabetes. If I have to exercise [anyway], why not make it fun?"

That's why all three fought so hard, knowing their recovery meant returning to the sport they loved.

"Going through an injury like that shows a lot about you," Rohle said. "You can give up right there and say, 'I'm out.' Or you can get up and do something about it. If you're that person sitting down and making excuses, that's not the person I wanted to be."

But Rohle, Thornton and Toups became the people they wanted to be -- comeback athletes of the year.