Anterior Cruciate Ligament. I never knew what the acronym ACL stood for until my surgeon broke the news that I had torn mine. I was relatively familiar with the injury because I've had teammates tear their and heard of star athletes having their career terminated from this knee injury. The ACL tear is a pretty common injury, especially in basketball, where pivoting and jumping are vital. I always had the fear of a major knee injury like this, but kept it in the back of my mind because its just not something you can worry about.
I tore my ACL midway through my Sophomore season. In a game, going up for a layup; something I did everyday. Only this time as I landed I heard a loud pop. And I knew. I'll never forget that stomach churning sound. After my surgery, my doctor informed me that the rehab would take 9-12 months if I ever wanted to play again. He told me the only one I would had a chance to playing at a high level again was by working as hard as I ever had and dedicating the next 9 months to rehab. The journey began, 9 hours of physical therapy a week, most of them coming at 6 A.M. on summer mornings. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I'm a stronger person because of it and the injury taught me many valuable lessons.
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