So sometime towards the end of the first half or beginning of the second I pull it forehand and it was a pretty good one, so I didnt hustle really hard down on the pull since I wasnt covering their main handler. I had pulled from the right side of the goal line because there was a small crosswind, so i tried to invert it a bunch and let it hang then fall to the middle of the field.
I'm running down and staying in the center of the field as I was running down to slow down the first cut in the middle of the field. As I was closing on my guy, now running at an angle to the sideline on left to meet my guy, the center handler swings it to the handler I was covering.
All in a split second I decided that I had a play on the disc and started a layout, but midway through this split second decision I decided that I probably couldnt get it and tried to back out. I ended up sticking down my right leg whiel extending with my right hand to maybe get a hand on it. My right foot landed somewhere in between my guys legs at an angle where the outside of my right foot hit the ground first. In any other conditions my foot probably wouldve just slipped out and fallen over. The perfect combination of a cushiony pillow like ground, too much traction (nike speed TD ftw), and getting tangled up with the handler I was guarding.
As it happened, I heard and felt the pop that everyone talks about. I immediately regret the play I tried to make, or if I had fully committed to it, maybe i wouldve gotten the D and everything would be peachy. Funny part about getting injured on those specific fields was that as I was laying on the ground there was UM's med school about 500 yards away and there had already been a few helicopters taking off and landing. For the rest of the weekend I iced and tried to keep it elevated. Later that day and the following day, my knee just didnt stop swelling and by th time monday rolled around, it appeared that I didnt have a knee due to all the swelling.
After a bunch of doctors appointments and a MRI later, it was determined that I had a complete ACL tear and I will be undergoing surgery tommorow at 3pm. Right now I'm eating my last meal because I cant eat after midnight tonight.
I will post when I get home from the hospital possibly with some pics of my knee and the sweet set up I have at home, everything is in reach.
hey man, i just got surgery for this too. I'm literally a week ahead of you, I got surgery on the 10th. Just fyi the first week sucks major pole, but physical therapy is not too bad. Good luck man!
ReplyDeleteJust got sent this blog. I literally got my ACL reconstructed on Tuesday of this week! I'm also a college Ultimate player! It'll be nice to learn about someone else's experiences.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you're having it done now, best of luck. I'm looking forward to more posts.
Hi Adam, I went through an ACL/MCL/lateral meniscus tear myself a year and a half ago. I'm also a college ultimate player from Dartmouth.
ReplyDeleteI hope the surgery went well, and you should know that there's a large (and unfortunately rapidly growing) community of us college ultimate players who have torn their ACLs, so by no means should you ever feel like you're alone in this. I'm sure you know some current Illini players or alums who had this, it's really a more common occurrence than most people think at first. Every team in the nation has people with one original ACL and one reconstructed one.
Those damn Speed TDs and their superior traction- can't live without them because they're so good for ultimate, but you can't live with them either (sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't have blown out my knee if I was wearing some cheap cleats or running shoes that day, but there's no use thinking of things like that)
I wrote a blog myself during my recovery and found that it helped a lot, I'm sure this will be great for you too. Best of luck with everything!
-CP
Adam, I tore my ACL last August playing ultimate (surgery in October) and my girlfriend did the same thing this past year (August/October). I was back on the field at about 80% within 10 months and 90% by Sectionals.
ReplyDeleteImportant question: What kind of graft did you get? I did patellar, my girlfriend did cadaver, and I've heard mostly negative things about hamstring.
Oh, and start doing wall sits all day, every day as soon as you get the go-ahead from your physical therapist. In general, you have to straddle a fine line between pushing yourself and not doing anything stupid.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Hey Eugene, I just had surgery 3 days ago and had the Patellar done. From what I was told and researched, patellar is the best for someone around my at (20) that still plans on being active their life.
ReplyDelete