CHELSIE Dawber was unable to play soccer or attend school this time last year. Now she is a key cog in the teenage contingent hoping to drive Adelaide United up the W-League table. Dawber had been earmarked as one of the state’s top emerging talents within Football Federation SA’s elite development program. But the Australian under-17 midfielder’s progress was halted indefinitely in January last year when she fell and knocked her head against a wall playing indoor soccer. “I got hit in the head, but silly me kept on playing for another five or six games,” Dawber, 17, recalled. “I got lots of severe headaches, I couldn’t concentrate, I was sleeping 16 or 17 hours a day. I couldn’t go to school and couldn’t do anything really.” The St Aloysius College graduate was diagnosed with post concussion syndrome, a mild form of traumatic brain injury, and was sidelined for 12 months.