Sean Medlock knows what it feels like to sit in a physical therapist's office and wonder when he will be able to do the things he wants to do again.

Full Interview

He knows the frustration of an injury. He knows what it is like to watch football instead of play it. He knows there is a physical side to rehabilitation, but there is also a mental side that can be just as difficult.

Those experiences have helped shape what comes next for the Dordt senior running back.

Medlock plans to graduate in May with a degree in kinesiology and hopes to attend physical therapy school. In an unexpected way, the injuries that have interrupted his football career have also helped him find a profession he believes he can pursue for the rest of his life.

"I want to be able to make an impact because I know the impact that those people have made in my life," Medlock said. "Going through injuries isn't easy. And so I want to be able to help people through those times mentally and physically."

That wasn't necessarily the plan when Medlock was a freshman in high school.

He grew up in Frederick, Colorado, about 45 minutes north of Denver, and football was a big part of his life. Then came a significant injury during his freshman season. It ended his season and introduced him to something he would become familiar with over the next several years: rehabilitation.

Medlock dealt with more injuries along the way, and each time he found himself spending time in a physical therapy office. Eventually, he started paying attention to what was happening around him.

"I said to myself, I could see myself doing this," he said.

The more time he spent there, the more interested he became. He was fascinated by the way the human body works and by its ability to heal. But it wasn't just the physical part that caught his attention.

He began to notice what happened to people mentally when they were hurt.

An athlete can know what needs to happen physically and still struggle with the process. Recovery takes patience. There are setbacks. There are days when progress is difficult to see. Medlock experienced those things himself, and they changed the way
he thought about the people helping him through them.

"I grew in love with just being able to learn more about the way God has created our bodies and how amazing it is that it can heal itself," Medlock said. "But also the psychological aspect of it and just how much mentally your brain works in that time."

That is the kind of physical therapist Medlock hopes to become.

But before he found his career path, he had to figure out where he wanted to spend his college years.

Dordt wasn't an obvious destination.

Medlock had never heard of the school before the Defenders began recruiting him. Then he met the coaching staff, including the coach who was recruiting him, and something felt different.

"You could tell that they truly cared about me," Medlock said. "I was more of a person than a number."

He remembers talking with the coaches and feeling like he was talking with people who genuinely wanted to know him. One moment that stuck with him came when his recruiting coach, Josh Munsterteiger, was FaceTiming him shortly after the birth of his
first child.

"I was like, wow, this is different," Medlock said. "This is really cool."

The football program mattered, of course. But so did the sense of community and the faith component of Dordt. Medlock felt that God was leading him toward northwest Iowa.

Four years later, he believes that was exactly where he was supposed to be.

"I'll start with Jesus. God kept me here," Medlock said.

Dordt is a long way from Frederick. It's roughly a 10-hour drive, which means going home for a quick weekend isn't always realistic. Over time, though, Medlock found people in Sioux Center who made that distance easier.

Families invited him into their homes. He shared meals with people who weren't related to him but who treated him like family. Teammates became close friends. Professors, coaches and classmates became part of his life.

"It feels like home away from home," he said.

That may be one of the biggest reasons Medlock has stayed.

Football doesn't always go exactly as planned. Injuries happen. Roles change. Seasons end. But the people around him have given him plenty of reasons to keep coming back.

One of those people was former Dordt running back Connor Dodd.

Medlock said he and Dodd had similar stories, and Dodd became someone he could look to during his time as a Defender. Dodd's approach to each day made an impression.

"He came in day in and day out with a positive mindset," Medlock said. "I was able to go to him. He's a role model to me."

Dodd also helped reinforce something Medlock had heard from his coaches throughout his Dordt career: football matters, but it isn't the most important thing.

"Football is just a game and our identity is through Christ," Medlock said. "It's not through the game itself."

That perspective has changed the way Medlock looks at the sport he has spent so much of his life playing.

As a running back, there is a lot of uncertainty in every play. He takes the handoff, looks ahead and sometimes sees a wall of defenders where he hopes there will be a hole. He has to trust that the offensive linemen will do their jobs. They have to trust that he will do his.

"You just got to trust the process," Medlock said. "Got to stay patient and trust that they're going to do their job just as much as you'll do your job."

When it works, there is nothing quite like it.

Getting into the end zone isn't just about the running back who carries the ball. It's the result of everyone doing what they were supposed to do.

"It feels like you all succeeded the task that you're going for," Medlock said.

That idea of everyone having a role has become part of how Medlock views his time at Dordt, too.

Football has been one piece. His classes have been another. His friendships, his faith and the people who have helped him through injuries have all played their part.

Now, the next piece is beginning to take shape.

Medlock's fiancée attends school in Oklahoma, and the couple plans to get married in May. He hopes to attend physical therapy school in Oklahoma and eventually begin a career helping people work through the same kinds of challenges that once brought him into a therapy clinic as a patient.

He doesn't know exactly what that future will look like yet, but,  he knows why he wants to do it.

An injury once took football away from a young Sean Medlock. Years later, those same experiences have given him a clearer idea of what he wants to give to someone else.