For the love of the game

Now, she is a shadow of her former self. She transferred from Notre Dame to Burlingame, comes off the bench for the Panthers and has only a couple of goals and assists on the season.

Considering all McBride has been through in the last year, she's just happy to be back on the field.

And alive.

Nine months ago, McBride was on top of the world, scoring both goals in the CCS championship game over Presentation. Less than a month later, she was lying in the Stanford Medical Center emergency room and given her last rites.

McBride had suffered near-fatal kidney failure due to a regimen of intense training and playing, inadequate hydration and painkillers.

"I was working out every single day, twice a day, and not drinking nearly enough water," McBride said. "I started getting aching pains in my back that wouldn't go away."

As her kidneys slowly began shutting down, McBride turned to painkillers to ease the pain, not knowing that she was overloading her system even more.

Playing with Pro Select, an invitation-only traveling team, McBride went to Las Vegas and played two games a day for four days while still not drinking enough liquids.

When she returned to Notre Dame, there were several times she had trouble getting out of bed because of the pain, but once she got going, "I could still function."

Finally, the pain became unbearable. She was taken to Urgent Care before being taken by ambulance to the Stanford emergency room.

"I was totally fine in the days before," McBride said before suddenly needing medical attention. She ended up staying in the hospital for three weeks.

When she got out, McBride was a changed person. As people who have a near-death experience, McBride realized she didn't fully appreciate everything she had.

"I think about it all the time, how much I took for granted if I did die," McBride said.

She also didn't feel that Notre Dame-Belmont was the best place for her either. She believed they didn't understand the severity of her predicament. She transferred to Burlingame High School in October.

"I wasn't feeling comfortable at Notre Dame," said McBride, who lives in Hillsborough and has a lot of friends who go to Burlingame. "They expected me to come back (right away) and do all the work (she had done before).

"I knew what I wanted and it wasn't Notre Dame."

Although McBride didn't die, she wasn't out of the woods. She spent the summer on dialysis and medication and spent another stint in the hospital before the start of school in the fall.

She stayed focused on getting better by getting back on the soccer field — which she did about a month after going into the hospital.

"[The doctors] didn't want me to start (playing so early)," McBride said. "But soccer is a big part of my life."

Just as McBride was finding her game, disaster struck again. During tryouts at Burlingame in early November, McBride broke her foot, keeping her out of action until Dec. 30.

"I was like, 'What's going to happen next?,'" McBride said. "I didn't know if soccer would be my thing now."

McBride is finally getting back into a groove, getting limited minutes off the Burlingame bench and regaining her touch on the ball. Her experiences, she said, made her appreciate her ability even more. She is determined to get back to the top of her game.

"I'm working real hard. At the beginning, I thought [my game] would come back," McBride said. "I'm still trying to get to my game. I'm still trying to get it back."

McBride puts herself at 70% and if she gets back to her former form, she once again will be one of the top players on the Peninsula.

"Her drawback right now is her conditioning," said Burlingame coach Phil DeRosa. "We sure appreciate her contributions. She's part of the team. I'm happy she feels good about everything."