The Big Picture

The Big Picture: A Savy King Story

The time had finally come. August 26th, 8 pm in Cary, North Carolina. The North Carolina Courage would face Angel City FC in a regular season NWSL match. The game had notoriety in and of itself. The two clubs are battling for remaining playoff spots after up and down seasons, but both hot as of recent. But also, North Carolina as a state with its universities and grass roots programs bring home a number of players that local fans are excited to see. Angel City features Evelyn Shores, a national champion from UNC; a recent trade addition in Ally Sentnor, UNC product and the former number one league pick in 2024; Florida State national champion, Taylor Suarez who grew up in Charlotte; Carina Lageyre, a rookie from Duke that has come off of back-to-back college cups; and other national stars that the Los Angeles-based team boast. Of course, the Courage have their own stars and stories as well. Ashley Sanchez has exploded this year and came into the match vying for the lead league in goals, Courage single season goal record, and the record for an American in the NWSL. A feat she would accomplish on this very night. Her brace and league-leading 15th goal a bright boost for the club that lost its other star, Manaka Matsukubo. 

On this August night, the upper 70s to 80s was a great reprieve from the mighty 90s the area had been experiencing. An obvious blessing from my point of view, but also one where players wouldn’t be going down cramping several times during the match. It’s part of the game, especially in the southeast, but one that holds scary thoughts. On May 9th, 2025, former UNC standout and Angel City defender Savy King went down with cardiac arrest. Nothing you would expect from an extremely young and extremely fit world class athlete. Just a few weeks prior to the incident, that quickly and rightfully so became national news, we were able to spend some time with Savy in Houston, Texas, as we were covering the game between her team and the Houston Dash. Finding a time to get together was challenging because she and many of her teammates were in “cramping protocol.” Hydration meetings were persistent throughout the days prior to matches as well as other regularly scheduled team meetings, meals, etc. It is now common practice for matches to feature hydration breaks if conditions meet a certain threshold, yet most matches will likely have at least one player go down for a cramp, or at least it seems so. 

With Savy King being one of our favorite people, and players to watch, we were particularly eager to carry on seeing her in person while on an east coast trip, however a trip to DC didn’t work out, then low and behold the next week in LA, Savy went down, but not with a cramp. A scene that is forever stamped in our minds. 

The rest of 2025 was dedicated to her recovery and news broke that she was miraculously scheduled to return to the pitch in early 2026, 10 months later.  However, the return wasn’t without hiccup; in late April, King suffered a lower leg injury that would sideline her for a “short time.” Another setback, but perspective played priority, as it likely always will. For us, this setback also stymied our plans to see Savy’s return to play in Houston over Memorial Day. 

Back to the moment and game at hand, if you’re still with us. Savy King was coming “home”, had a game under her belt, and was scheduled to play the second half according to insiders. Now, photographers like myself jockey for position in the friendliest of ways as sideline space and movement is limited.  When it comes to positioning, usually the teams want to be attacking the goal by their bench in the second half. It’s a pretty safe bet. However, my last two times out covering the Courage they have done the opposite. Plenty of action was to be had in the first half; Sentnor, Shores, Suarez, Lageyre all started. Maycee Bell was having a tremendous game for the Courage. Ashley Sanchez scored her 14th goal of the season in the first half. Anxiously awaiting the start of the second half, out comes the Savy King with the imagined exuberance. The only imaginable problem - she was playing right back. A problem only had by me per se, as it was about 100 yards away at any given time. After the match, visiting with friends and family, and dreading the results I shamelessly commented, “Well that couldn’t have been any worse” and explaining, when my wits came about me…In the Big Picture, Savy was healthy, present, and back playing the game she loves, and the game we love to see her play. While my photos can always serve as reminders, memories, and celebrations…my best reminder can be perspective. The Big Picture.

To keep up with Savy you can follow her on social media platforms @SavymKing and through the foundation she created Savy King of Hearts and their mission to empower communities through CPR Awareness, Preventive Screenings, and Heart Health Advocacy. @SavyKingofHearts