Last year Junior, Sydney Henderson, tore her ACL in our first game of the season. This Saturday in our scrimmage vs. UMBC she will play for the first time under a whistle in almost a year. Here's what she has to say about the whole process, being back, and how it feels to play tomorrow.
I'm sure everyone has been through an emotional roller coaster before, or stressed out over something. Well my emotional roller coaster is a little different. You are about to read my story of when I tore my ACL in the very first game of the season last year, November 14, 2011, at the University of Virginia. I remember it like it was yesterday: when it happened, when the doctors diagnosed me with the tear, when I went under for surgery, and when I started rehab.
Tearing your ACL is such a major injury and I learned a lot throughout the rehab process. I learned to have a lot of patience because it is a very long process and it takes a long time for you to feel almost 100% again. I was stubborn at the beginning of my rehab process once I was released from Physical Therapy because my doctors told me that I was cleared to play June 1, but my athletic trainer wanted to push my date back. I also learned a lot about the injury itself and how serious it is. Rebuilding the Quad muscle is very important, as well as having strong hamstrings and hips and a lot of other things that go along with the injury. It really did not take me long to feel like I could start doing stuff on the court again. I was participating in post-season and being able to do some of the court workouts started to bring my confidence back up. It was very tough handling the fact that I was cleared to play but I was really not able to play. My athletic trainer wanted my Quad to continue to rebuild that muscle and to be more stable than where it was when I was cleared to play. There were a lot of lessons learned in this process because I was not able to completely play until I was nine months out of surgery and I was cleared by my doctors at the 6th month mark. However, my athletic trainer was really looking out for me and my health because I am more prone to tearing my right ACL now, so she made sure that I was very stable and strong enough. There were some positives to waiting a while because I now feel like I came back stronger, quicker, and better than before.
Being back is so much fun. You really do not realize how much you love the game and have the passion for the game until you have to sit out, and sitting out for a whole year really made me realize how much I do not like sitting. Being back is such an amazing feeling, I feel like I have so much energy because I was sitting for such a long time it was all bottled up and now I feel like I'm ready to just let it all back out again. I feel very confident and I also don't feel hesitant at all while I'm on the court. The first few weeks of practice personally have been great, I've been feeling great. There are days when my knee is sore because it is not used to me doing so much, however I always play through the soreness and just usually ice after practice. Also, the first week I got hit in my knee by one of my teammates and it scared me, but that was something that I needed to get the kinks out. I closed my eyes and fell to the ground and I opened my eyes back up and realized that I AM okay, and that I am fixed (: Haha. Team-wise I was a little nervous at first because I had to learn to play with the current sophomores, as well is the freshmen, because I didn't really get the play with the sophomores last year. I felt like I would be kind of left behind chemistry-wise, but it is actually much better than I expected. Playing with all the girls is so much fun, we have a lot of fun on the court but we also are 'about our business' when it’s time to play and be serious.
My thoughts on the upcoming scrimmage, personally, because I haven't played since November of last year; I am very excited to actually be able to play a game again. To be in that type of atmosphere because it is different than practice. I'm anxious and excited but I am not nervous or scared at all, and some people find that weird. People are always asking me "Syd, are you doing to be nervous first game?" and I always reply, "No, not at all, I'm excited and ready for the games to start." Team-wise I feel like we are getting there, working out the kinks and for our upcoming scrimmage I honestly believe that we are going to do well. Everyone is ready to play and ready to beat teams this year so these two scrimmages should really show us where we are and what we need to really work out.
I'm excited for the season with the girls as well as seeing how I will do coming back from such a serious injury.
Stay healthy!!!
