This time, I realized my knee was badly hurt, said Ms. Skrelja, who graduated from Hastings High School in 1997. "I was so disappointed because I'd worked so hard at rehabilitation and I knew I'd have to go thought it all again."

Along with the increase in female competitive sports in the last 30 years, there has been a proportionately greater rise in sports-related injuries. This is particularly true of the painful and debilitating injuries known as ACL tears, which often require surgery and a lengthy recover. (The abbreviation ACL refers to "anterior cruciate ligament" in the knee joint). Studies by the Santa Monika Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Research Foundation show that a female soccer player's risk of ACL injury is two to eight times greater than that of a male player.

Dr. Cavaliere, who specializes in sports medicine, wanted to do more than wait for patients to walk --or limp --through his office door. So he began looking into a program begun by the Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Research Foundation aimed precisely at this issue. Based on two years of research, the foundation showed an overall 74 percent reduction in ACL in those who used the training program compared with those who didn't.

Dr. Cavaliere became determined to institute the foundation's program, for school athletic teams throughout the county collaborated with Dr. Anthony Maddalo, his partner in sports medicine, and Richard Giordano of Sleepy Hollow Physical Therapy Group.

At a meeting in late February, Dr. Cavaliere introduced the program to an enthusiastic group of coaches and trainers from schools and after-school athletic teams in the river towns. "Unfortunately," he said, "there has been no consensus on recommended treatments for three of the risk factors for ACL injuries: anatomical, hormonal and environmental differences. The one area where significant reduction in ACL injuries can occur is with biomechanical risk factors".

He said that through the proper training techniques, ACL tears cold be avoided by increasing flexibility, strength and agility. These methods would be taught pro bono to the coaches and school teams requesting training by Mr.. Girodano, the project coordinator, and a team from Sleepy Hollow Physical Therapy. For information on the program, call (914) 631-6969.

For the next three years, the Santa Monica group will study all knee injuries reported by soccer players, coaches, trainers and parents, and compare them with the results of his and similar studies on the East Coast.

Working on the study is a natural fit for Dr. Cavaliere, a member of the Hudson Valley Bone and Joint Surgeons and Chief of orthopedics at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. He has treated college and professional athletes and was the orthopedic consultant for the New York Islanders, the New Jersey Nets and World Cup Soccer. He and Dr. Maddalo are partners in the Hudson Valley group and co-team doctors for the Westchester Flames soccer team, and Dr Cavaliere was recently names the team doctor for the Westchester Wildfire, a United State Basketball league team.

But Dr. Cavaliere has even more important reasons or getting involved; his two young daughters, ages 8 and 10, are already playing soccer, ad he believes a 5-year-old son is sure to follow.

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