I’ve jumped up into the air thousands of times in my life with little thought of ever getting injured in the process.
However, on this particular day — December 7, 2021 — in a game against the Michigan Wolverines, I went up the same way I had so many times before but came back down to the sound no athlete ever wants to hear.
POP!
It didn’t take long for it all to register in my head that something just went horribly wrong. Once I heard that pop, I was certain this was pretty serious.
I had torn my meniscus in the same knee in a previous injury, and this was just a case of things building on top of one another and the leg just giving out.
And yet, the first thought in my head was that maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. I figured I could probably rehab my way back just like I did with the meniscus injury before.
You know, you’re playing the game, and the adrenaline is still flowing and everything. You think you can take on the world in that moment. And then, of course, I saw the MRI scans and realized this wasn’t something I could just bounce back from.
I realized it was the most serious injury I’d ever experienced.