When Sharon senior Brayden Salkin tore his ACL  in the opposite knee after tearing one the year before, he immediately pulled out a calendar to figure out how soon he could make it back.

One rehab didn’t slow him down, so two certainly weren’t going to either.

Now, Salkin is a full participant in camp with his Sharon/Dedham teammates, preparing for his final season as a captain for the Eagles.

“Yes, I absolutely did that, and that was after my second ACL last year,” Salkin said in a recent interview. “I tore my second ACL during my team’s Thanksgiving game last year and this was during my junior year. When I officially had the diagnosis and the surgery date, I went immediately to my calendar to see when that nine-month marker was because that’s the average time for an ACL recovery. I realized that at that 9-month marker it was actually after our first scheduled game the following year, so my senior year. I told myself I can’t miss that game. I knew I would have to work even harder on this recovery if I were to make it back before our first game, so that means I would have to get cleared before that nine-month marker.”

Just days before camp, Salkin got the clearance. So, where did that drive come from? Even pro athletes have trouble doing what he’s been able to do from a recovery standpoint.

“I think it comes from a mix of the competitor in me, my ability to work hard without giving up and just the fact that this is my last season playing football,” he said. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do to play this year. And here I am now, fully cleared, playing in our preseason camp and getting ready for our first game, less than nine months after my surgery.”

That love for football has been around for as long as Salkin can remember. Having his father Aaron working for the Patriots PR staff certainly played a factor.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t even remember when I first fell in love with the game; I’ve always just loved everything about it,” Salkin said when I asked him about his earliest football memories. “I know my dad definitely played a factor in getting me started early on with football, and I am so grateful for that. I know as I got older and as I actually started to play football more seriously, I realized that it’s truly a grind and, in my opinion, the hardest sport.

“I realized that you truly have to love this game and love the grind to continue playing it as much as some people do, and honestly, that made me fall in love with it even more.”

Salkin also had a unique perspective while going through both of his injuries and rehabs.

After being close to the side of teammate Rohan Shukla and seeing what he’s been through since suffering a traumatic brain injury reminded him of just how lucky he is.

“Seeing Rohan and how he’s doing with his injury really puts things into perspective with me about life and especially about injuries,” Salkin said. “When you go through something like an ACL tear, in the moment and through recovery, you feel like that’s the worst thing that can happen to you, but what you need to think about is that you get the chance to come back. I got the chance to come back twice from two separate injuries and I am beyond grateful for that. The sad reality is that some people don’t get to come back after an injury, and some people aren’t as lucky.

“I know anything could happen at any moment, and I try to use that to make the most of every opportunity I get, not only in sports, but just in life.”

While perspective is key for all of us in life, that doesn’t make difficulties any easier to handle. Salkin had his bad days during the recovery process and doubt about a comeback would creep in from time to time.

“I would say the hardest part about recovery would be the mental state it kind of puts you through.  What was going through my mind for a lot of my recovery was: ‘how and why has this happened to me twice?’ There really is no answer to that question. I feel like it’s hard to control that, especially at the beginning of recovery. The beginning of the recovery process is always the hardest for me and it was especially hard the second time because I watched my leg go from 100% to basically 0% for the second time.

“The second recovery was for sure harder for me because I had a few setbacks with pain and problems related to my tendon. I know before the second surgery they told me that usually patients have one very smooth and easy recovery and one rocky recovery. My first recovery went very smoothly, and I felt like myself within the first five months of the recovery, but after my second surgery I had a lot of trouble getting the pain to go away because the pain was holding me back for a long time. I know I had my doubts during those times for sure about whether I’d be back in time for day 1 of football, but I tried blocking out those thoughts as much as possible so that my only focus was just getting better and not if I was going to get better. Eventually, my recovery sort of skyrocketed once I got over that huge hump and really showed me what I’m capable of.

“I feel like deep down, with the drive and dedication I have towards the game of football, I was going to make it back on that field no matter what happened.”

Of course, Salkin’s supporting cast played a huge role in the journey back to the field.

“I look back and realize how important my friends and family are to me and I know I couldn’t have done any of this without them,” he acknowledged. “I would always get random visits while I was stuck on my couch right after my surgery from my friends and my parents would always get me anything I needed no matter the time. I am so grateful to have both my friends and family right by my side, pushing me to be greater each and every day, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”

Salkin is also a lacrosse player, which added an entirely different element of frustration to both of the injuries.

“I also ended up missing out on two of those seasons because of how long of a recovery ACL surgery is. I always told myself while I was dealing with those injuries that I’d be fine missing lacrosse as long as I’d be back for football,” he said. “Although getting back for football was the goal, I could not have been more wrong both times around about lacrosse. It was almost impossible not to just throw my lacrosse pads on and run onto that field. One of the hardest parts about recovery that nobody can prepare you for or help with is watching everyone else do what you love while you’re stuck watching.

“Even though I couldn’t play, that didn’t stop me from showing up every day to every practice and game, and doing anything I could for the team to help them be as prepared as possible, and I feel like that made me a part of the brotherhood even though I couldn’t play.”

Now that he’s ended up on the other side of things, Salkin is looking forward to being a true leader for a Sharon team that’s still looking to ascend during its rebuild.

“As a senior leader this upcoming season, my biggest goal is to hold each and every player accountable, including myself and to make sure we are all disciplined,” Salkin noted. “Something our program doesn’t do a lot of is win and I want to win games this year. Personally, I am tired of losing and I know we have the guys to win a lot of games this year, so each and every day we are going to compete against each other, learn from our mistakes and simply get better every single day.

“I take a lot of pride in my captaincy because I care a lot about this team, I care a lot about football, and this game means so much to me and I am willing to give it my all every single day, so I want to show the guys next to me and the younger guys below me exactly what football is about and exactly what you have to do if you want to win.”