Studies have shown that those who identify strongly with athletics tend to have a harder time when dealing with sports injuries. The purpose of my study is to assess the impact that injuries have on student athletes’ identities. I utilize interviews with male and female student athletes at Illinois Wesleyan University in order to determine the significance of athletics to their personal identity, their coping strategies after the injury, and the impact on athletes’ community and social life. I found that most of the athletes at IWU strongly identify with their athletic role, and thus face personal and social struggles when recovering from an injury. Those struggles include normalizing the pain, putting pressure on themselves, feelings of denial, and a lack of support from coaches. All of these social barriers continue to impact the athlete’s identity and recovery process.