Summer “Workouts”

“One of our top Juniors is out for now with a knee injury, but we’re not concerned.”

It was a blip in a local article. Just a blip. But for some reason I couldn’t help but feel that everyone knew something I didn’t. Why mention it? Why let every coach in the conference know that I was injured when I would be playing 6 rotations for the first time in my life? But God, forget about it, it’s just a blip.

Soon the article wouldn’t matter, because the giant J-shaped brace to push over my patella to help relieve pain and my inability to run or move laterally gave myself away before I could even get out of the summer “workout” season.

Maybe it was these “workouts” that killed me. Grueling 2-4 hour practices in a non-air conditioned gym that would help “condition” us for the upcoming season. In reality these practices resulted in the greatest number of injuries, and helped to worsen the mangled mess of cartilage that laid hidden within my knee joint.

I spent that summer bouncing between practice and physical therapy with a cortisone and Synvisc-one shot mixed in–all without a diagnosis. My MRI was inconclusive; physical therapy and shots were providing no relief, and I was waking up each morning in more and more pain.

At this point, it wasn’t about the recruiting. It wasn’t about being ready for the fall season, or even getting through a single summer “workout.” I was in the worst pain in my life, unable to straighten my leg in bed or walk up or down the stairs.

I wanted out. I wanted answers. I wanted help.