"VAN" (Sports Desk - 15.01.2026) :: For professional athletes, injury is never only physical. It can be a sudden identity shift — from "doing" to "waiting", from certainty to silence, from being seen to feeling invisible. Aurora Galli knows that silence well.
The moment everything broke — and then broke again
In the winter of 2025, while playing for Everton, Aurora suffered an ACL rupture. The timing felt cruel: her rehabilitation was built around one clear horizon — the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 with the Italian national team. She did what elite athletes do: she committed fully, pushed through the hardest months, and focused on the only thing that mattered — returning in time.
But when the EURO squad was announced, her name wasn’t on it.
That moment hit deeper than she expected. Not just disappointment — something heavier: the feeling that all the pain, discipline, and sacrifice had been for nothing. Still, she kept going. She trained hard through the summer, believing the 2025/26 season would be her restart year — the season of coming back stronger.
Then, during the first 11v11 session, it happened again: a challenge, the same knee, another injury. A second blow on the same spot — and this time it didn’t just take her off the pitch. It took her away from herself.
A DARK TUNNEL Aurora describes that period as a dark tunnel: no energy, no enthusiasm, no passions outside the one thing that had always given her joy — football. When you’ve built your identity around performance, being forced to stop can feel like losing your language. You don’t recognize your body. You don’t recognize your mind. And you start asking the question athletes rarely speak out loud:
"If I’m not playing… who am I?"
Meeting Pro Athletes Evolution: rebuilding Mind, Body and Inner Power
That’s when Aurora met "Pro Athletes Evolution", the coaching pathway created by Maria Pia Beltran — a family friend Aurora had first met back in 2014.
Maria Pia’s method is built on three pillars: "Mind, Body and Inner Power". Through MPB Personal Coaching, Aurora began a six-week one-to-one journey designed not only to support her rehabilitation mindset, but also to help her reconnect with her identity beyond the pitch.
Together, Aurora and “Mapy” worked on practical, repeatable tools:
Breathwork: to regulate anxiety and bring stability on difficult days
Journaling: to process fear, grief, anger — and rebuild clarity
Yoga and body reconnection: to restore trust and presence
IKIGAI: to reconnect with meaning, values, and direction
PERMA (Positive Psychology): Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment
Planning and micro-goals: to rebuild structure and confidence step by step
The focus wasn’t “be positive.” It was deeper: learning how to stay grounded while everything felt uncertain — and rediscovering parts of herself that had been hidden under performance pressure.
FEELING GOOD FOR YOURSELF Aurora explains the turning point in her own words: “I’m Aurora Galli and I worked with Mapy. I was in a moment of my life where I couldn’t see anything — everything was dark, with no emergency exit. I didn’t think I could find help by asking for help. But by talking with Mapy I rediscovered the little girl that was — and still is — inside me.
"She opened my heart and my eyes to something important: feeling good for yourself, not because people can see you happy, but because you are happy for yourself — and you can see clearly even when the people you love are at peace with themselves.
"It was difficult, honestly, to open up in such a deep and sensitive way. The first weeks were scary and, in a way, painful — because you see yourself like a stranger. And little by little, through the work, you reconnect to your true self.
"I’m very satisfied with what we did and with the opportunities Mapy showed me — tools I can use in the future.”
PROUD COACH Maria Pia Beltran, the founder of MPB Personal Coaching, said: "From a personal coaching perspective working with Aurora on her recovery has been an honour. Seeing her return to the pitch made me feel goosebumps and I am proud to work with such a talented and dedicated professional and, most of all, human being."
On Monday Everton shared the video of Aurora’s return onto the field. The midfielder came on in the 75th minute to make her first appearance since May during Everton's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on January 11, 2026. For fans, it’s a moment of joy and relief. For Aurora, it represents something more: a comeback built not only on muscles and medical timelines, but on invisible work — the work of rebuilding identity, confidence and inner stability.
Because returning after one injury is hard. Returning after two consecutive setbacks — and still choosing hope — is a form of courage.
Aurora’s story reminds us of something essential: rehabilitation is not only recovery. It’s evolution.
And sometimes, the strongest part of the comeback is the one nobody sees.
Cr-AIPS
Responses
Leave your comment