March 2, 2022
We were playing against Liberty High and two minutes into the game, I got bumped by the person dribbling. I hyperextended my left leg while I was in the air, then I landed on it while it was hyperextended. I felt a snap in the back of my knee and I collapsed to the ground. I couldn’t get up at all. It felt like I got the wind knocked out of me. It felt like my leg was broken at first. I was on the ground for about 5, 10 minutes with the coaches and the trainers because I couldn’t stand up or breathe and then we walked off the court.
I was really scared. I was yelling at the coaches to come over because I knew that something was wrong. But I pushed the thought of having torn my ACL into the back of my head. I really wanted to believe that it was a sprain and not another ACL tear. I was more hopeful, but I feel like I knew that I tore my ACL. I argued with my surgeon and Sheila, West High’s athletic trainer, because I wanted to get back on the court. They yelled at me and told me I was not allowed to play the rest of the game. Over the next couple of days, my knee gradually got worse. I knew my ACL was torn because my injury wasn’t getting any better.
When I went out of the game, our team kind of deflated and it was a really tough, intense game. We ended up winning by three points. I think when I got injured it shocked our team because they didn’t know how to respond to a big player going out at the time, but they ended up doing really well.
The team dynamic has changed because there is a lack of someone filling the leadership role that I had on the court. There’s not really a big leader on the team. I think individual people are trying to step up, but then there’s other people who want to be the leader. It’s hard because of that, but they’ve adapted pretty well. I just can’t be there for my teammates the way they want me to because I’m dealing with something much greater. — Emma Ingersoll-Weng '22
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I just can’t be there for my teammates the way they want me to because I’m dealing with something much greater. I would love to be there, but I just can’t. The team doesn’t really need a leader or another cheerleader from the bench when they have coaches and other people. I kind of feel like an outsider now. I go into these spirals where I don’t talk to anybody for a while. I ignore everybody and snap at people. Just because… well this is my senior year.
I don’t really know what I want to do anymore, but I’m probably gonna stick with basketball all four years of college. I mean, there’s a risk of re-tearing either ACL, but I don’t think I can be done with basketball. It’s all I’ve ever known and done since I was three years old and it’s a part of me even though I have a love-hate relationship with basketball. I just need to continue sticking with it through this, because overall I enjoy what I do.
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