Hayley Hodson earned the national freshman of the year honor in 2015 after leading her Stanford team in kills. Only a few matches into her sophomore year, however, the 6-foot-3 pin hitter, who was once the top recruit in her class, took a medical leave of absence from Stanford, leaving the volleyball community shocked and looking for answers.

Now, as the start of the 2017 NCAA women's volleyball season approaches, Hodson has announced her medical retirement after being diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.

In a blog post explaining her decision, Hodson detailed each of her four concussions and the symptoms that came with each of the injuries and never seemed to go away. She described the way her coaches and trainers at Stanford reacted to her injuries, writing that they pushed her to play through the pain, even when she continued to suffer symptoms.

"Stanford's aggressive concussion protocol had me on a plane traveling to our away games in Washington the following day, working out 48 hours later, sitting courtside in a loud, visually stimulating gymnasium for our match vs. UW just four days after the initial impact, and playing in a televised match on day six," Hodson wrote. "I was pressured into believing that I was okay and put on a court while still cognitively compromised. I didn't realize it, but I never really got better."

When Hodson first noticed her impaired concentration, sleep disturbances, depression, and anxiety, she assumed they were related to the stresses of starting on a top Division I team as a freshman and adjusting to college life and academics.

Her decision to take a medical leave of absence partway through the 2016 season was a combination of the post-concussive symptoms she was suffering and a devastating case of shin splints. Stanford went on to win the national championship, while Hodson cheered from afar and worked with doctors and a psychiatrist to pinpoint the cause of her symptoms.

In March, Hodson was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, and her doctors encouraged her to medically retire from volleyball.

"In total, I had five doctors look at me and tell me that there was no way I should be on a court due to my impaired reaction time and concentration," Hodson wrote. "Each also asked me to consider the risk of continuing to play a sport in which I was likely to receive another hit to the head. After four concussions and who knows how many sub-concussive hits, my health and life have already been affected and I am looking at a future riddled with complications."

Hodson will continue her studies at Stanford and will travel to Oxford as an exchange student this fall. In her blog post, she cited an interest in film production and screenwriting.

"Hayley is part of our Stanford Athletics family, and we wish her all the best in the continuing pursuit of her Stanford degree," Stanford Director of Athletics Bernard Muir said in a press release announcing Hodson's decision.

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