One wrong step or cut is all it takes to change the outlook of an entire year. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened to me. Over the summer I jumped up for a football in a pickup football game and upon landing I felt my knee pop. Immediately the dreaded ACL ran through my thoughts. An injury that takes nearly a year or longer to fully recover from. There was some hope as X-rays were negative, but my knee was not the same and severely swollen for weeks. After finally getting an MRI upon returning to Miami, I was told I had torn my ACL and MCL. Just like that my final lacrosse season was over before it started. 14 years of a sport and I would not be able to step on the field again. I would say this was certainly a turning point in my life.

Since then, my mindset and mentality have completely changed. Small things such as walking or running and even getting into a car are things I had taken for granted as I struggled with everyday life tasks post-surgery. I had a long road to recovery ahead of me starting with prehab then surgery and then rehab to return to play. People always hear about this injury, but the actual ins and outs mentally and physically are something that has certainly been overlooked.

The first major part is consistency. One day off rehab is time lost. Especially in the early days of post-surgery, daily rehab is essential to maintain schedule and health of the repaired knee. This certainly takes some time management and sacrifices in order to achieve. I have yet to miss a day of rehab besides schedule rest days. It is simply a mentality that to return to play you must put in the rehab work. Return to play is met when you are at reach the athletic levels you were previously at before injury. Certainly, there were days when I did not have the motivation, but I knew my future self would thank me for the work I put in. This can certainly translate to life as consistency in any certain hobby or aspect of life can lead to proficiency or even mastery. Time invested can lead to dividends in the future. 

“Small milestones are key” is what my physical therapist told me. Bending the knee, weight bearing, walking without crutches, jumping, running, cutting is some of the many milestones I must reach on my path to return to play. A 9–12-month timeline can seem scary at the start but by breaking down into small milestones the process allows for celebration of the little things despite full recovery being farther down the road. Currently I am just starting to be able to run again. I can happily say I have come a long way. From needing help to get into a car or needing to put my leg up during a class, I have hit little milestone after little milestone. There are still more milestones to hit but I am happy with the progress made.

It took a while, but I have gotten to the point where I no longer regret jumping for the football. It is something that I would have done 10/10 times in the moment. A rather freak accident. I have a newfound respect for the process while also at moments taking time to soak in life itself. Reflecting back, I often did not do this. Always worrying about what is next or looking far into a week and prestressing myself. Life can change at any moment. So, live in it. I cannot wait to be back to full health, and my personal goal is to finish a Miami Marathon as my final milestone for this recovery. My motto has been “making diamonds”. It comes from the saying “pressure makes diamonds”. It is a mindset I have learned on throughout this recovery process. The pressure I put on myself to recover will allow me to shine again.