Updated April 6, 2026, 11:43 a.m. ET
- Anna Gotterup is a senior attacker for the nationally ranked Navy ladies’s lacrosse group.
- Anna overcame a uncommon leg situation to proceed her athletic and navy careers.
- After commencement, Anna will attend flight college to develop into a Navy pilot.
The meteroic rise of PGA golf star Chris Gotterup is well-known. Chris this week will make his Masters Tournament debut.
His sister Anna’s story is simply as spectacular.
The siblings grew up in Little Silver. Anna is a senior lacrosse participant for the nationally ranked Navy group who was dangerously near shedding her left leg as a result of a uncommon vascular situation known as Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome.
It’s a situation that precipitated the previous Red Bank Catholic star’s calf muscle to atrophy right down to a small fraction of its regular measurement. Her early outreach for therapy is credited with saving the leg and preserving her athletic and navy careers.
All this whereas Anna has additionally been making ready for what comes after commencement – when she is going to spend 5 years on lively responsibility and develop into an officer. In September as a possible Navy pilot, she’ll attend flight college.
“It hasn’t been easy for that young lady,” dad Morten Gotterup mentioned, “but she’s kind of a badass.”
The household will likely be in attendance when Chris, 26, tees it up in Augusta as a extremely ranked newcomer that the golf world has been abuzz about; the 2025 Scottish Open champion mentioned he’ll “treat it like a normal week and try to play well.”
Chris additionally performed youth lacrosse however specialised in golf when he entered Christian Brothers Academy and he went on to have an elite collegiate golf profession at Rutgers for 4 years and the University of Oklahoma for a last season.
There’s a particular spot in his coronary heart for his little sister, Chris mentioned.
“For me it’s been cool because this is something she’s been wanting to do her whole life,” he mentioned. “She’s gone through a lot of ups and downs. I get a lot of love just because I play golf, but what she’s doing is pretty amazing. Putting a lot of things to the side and sacrificing a lot of stuff for the country and all the people that are on her team… I have a much greater appreciation for what she does, in the military, now that she’s involved. It’s just really cool as a brother to see her do that and I think she deserves a lot of notoriety, and I probably get more than I should.”
Likewise, Anna mentioned: “Lucky enough for me, I’m going to be able to go Sunday at the Masters to watch him play this season – assuming he makes the cut, which I already pressured him on. That’ll be awesome. I’m really excited to get down there to watch him play in such a prestigious tournament.”
Growing up with lacrosse, golf and all issues sports activities
The third Gotterup sibling – Patrick, who works in sports activities advertising and marketing and infrequently caddies for Chris on the PGA Tour – is the “glue kid” of the household, Morten mentioned.
Morten and his spouse Kate mentioned sports activities naturally have been at all times a typical theme as they raised their household in Little Silver – Kate performed subject hockey and softball in highschool; Morten performed tennis at St. Mary’s College in California and has been certainly one of New Jersey’s prime beginner golfers.
“There are kind of two sets of parents: There are the ones convinced that at 10 years old their kid is going to be in the Hall of Fame for whatever sport and the other set of parents that are like ‘can we get this over with’ because Bobby doesn’t know how to catch a ball,'” Morten mentioned. “We were somewhere in the middle with our kids. We knew that they were always athletic, Patrick might’ve been the most athletic out the three maybe, Anna is probably there, and Christopher’s obviously very good but we never had visions that it would work out like this ever.”
“She’s just been super tenacious and not given up on trying to get back and play lacrosse at the high level,” mentioned Kate by telephone final Friday whereas she was driving to see Anna and Navy play in Annapolis towards Boston University. The seventh-ranked Midshipmen gained 16-1. “Last year she worked her way back and then tore her MCL, so that was another setback, then she got herself back from that over the summer and this year’s been pretty cool to see her play quite a bit.”
‘I’m nonetheless gaining that power again’
Anna throughout her freshman yr at Navy realized her leg wasn’t proper.
In instances of Popliteal Artery Entrapment Syndrome, muscle tissues or tendons behind the knee compress a serious artery. It restricted blood stream to Anna’s decrease left leg whereas operating and her foot would go numb.
After CAT scans, MRIs and surgical procedures, she was capable of get again on the sphere. If she would have waited longer to get it checked out, she might haven’t have had a leg, a health care provider instructed her. She sat out her freshman lacrosse season. .
“I don’t think I’m ever going to be back to the capability that I had before I had surgery freshman year, but I do feel very healthy and I’m definitely getting stronger even now four years later,” Anna mentioned. “I’m still gaining that strength back. If I didn’t know I had surgery, I’d say that I feel pretty solid.”
That Anna has made such a robust restoration is not any shock to Troy Madison, the lacrosse coach at Red Bank Catholic when she performed there.
“You can tell she had something special. Really a motor that never quit even as a freshman, wanting to get on the field, and would kind of do anything she was asked to do and willing to play anywhere and go in,” Madison recalled.
Anna mentioned her objective this yr is to assist Navy win the nationwide championship. The group was 11-0 – marking one of the best begin in program historical past – earlier than shedding to No. 15 Loyola Maryland in late March. As of April 3, Anna has six objectives and a career-high seven assists.
“I think I play a little more careful to say the least,” Anna mentioned. “I think I’m more aware of my surroundings and if I’m going to get trucked, I’m probably not going to try and go for that cut or go for that drive, because there’s still something in my brain that says a little scary. But I’m starting to get over that fear, especially this season. Definitely a little more timid than I played before but getting over it.”
“She’s got a sense of put your head down and get through it. And her leg injury was very serious,” Morten mentioned. “It was not as much about playing Division I lacrosse, it was about whether she’d be even fit to stay in the Naval Academy. The little girl’s dream at 5th grade was potentially going to be taken away by something she didn’t have control over. But she attacked it, she is stronger for it. She had similar stuff with her eyes… she had to go to through some various surgeries to get her eyes so that she can fly.”
The future
Navy athletes after commencement typically have an obligation of 5 years of lively responsibility, one thing Anna says she’s “totally fine” with.
The Iran War and international instability have her mother and father fearful.
“It’s very cool when your daughter is in high school and starting off in the Naval Academy – ‘oh yeah, I want to be a fighter pilot’ – it’s very cool, until it becomes real,” Morten mentioned. “But this is one of those moments where I think she’s fully aware of the consequences of her decision and it’s all she wants. This is not my story selfishly telling her I want you to be safe, I don’t want you to do it. It’s recognizing the risks that she’s undertaking and being as supportive as possible and just kind of moving on.”
For Anna, she’s pursuing a objective she set in elementary college.
“Everybody definitely has their concerns and their questions…that’s not really for me to worry about because it’s not my call,” Anna mentioned. “I’m just gonna do what I’m told and do the best that I can and train hard and be prepared for anything.”
