UcMiami
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- Aug 26, 2011
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Interesting discussion and I don't want to be negative but ...
1. Numerous players have reported the mental hurdle of trusting the injured knee 100%.
2. I think defensive speed and explosive first step were Kalana's biggest issues coming back and while her stats may have been the same, watching her that first year back she clearly wasn't the same player as pre-injury. And her senior year she was much improved, but still not as explosive as she had been. Not sure of her current status and she may have gotten stronger and faster over the years.
3. The other very important issue with any injury is that the recovery time takes away from the skill work that players do all the time. BB is missing the whole summer in terms of skill training so even if she is physically 100% she has missed 6 months of shooting, ball handling, defensive drills that would normally be happening. We saw what the summer meant to her game after her freshman year and she is missing that developmental time this year. (NB This is a concern with Stef as well who is spending this summer recovering and not 'stressing' her feet/ankles.) (And I think this has been an issue with KS as she has dealt with a lot of 'minor' injuries that have stunted the progression of her game.)
And just a note on AP and his recovery - they say he is a 1 in 100 athlete in terms of his recovery ability. And in pro football, somewhere around 50% of players that have an ACL are out of the game within 2 years of the injury (so really only one playing year.) Football is a much different game, but that % belies the idea of 100% recovery in 90% of athletes. Professional and high college athletes are pushing their bodies to the edge of the envelope all the time so they are more likely to notice less than 100% recovered skills and to also have some recurring problems.
1. Numerous players have reported the mental hurdle of trusting the injured knee 100%.
2. I think defensive speed and explosive first step were Kalana's biggest issues coming back and while her stats may have been the same, watching her that first year back she clearly wasn't the same player as pre-injury. And her senior year she was much improved, but still not as explosive as she had been. Not sure of her current status and she may have gotten stronger and faster over the years.
3. The other very important issue with any injury is that the recovery time takes away from the skill work that players do all the time. BB is missing the whole summer in terms of skill training so even if she is physically 100% she has missed 6 months of shooting, ball handling, defensive drills that would normally be happening. We saw what the summer meant to her game after her freshman year and she is missing that developmental time this year. (NB This is a concern with Stef as well who is spending this summer recovering and not 'stressing' her feet/ankles.) (And I think this has been an issue with KS as she has dealt with a lot of 'minor' injuries that have stunted the progression of her game.)
And just a note on AP and his recovery - they say he is a 1 in 100 athlete in terms of his recovery ability. And in pro football, somewhere around 50% of players that have an ACL are out of the game within 2 years of the injury (so really only one playing year.) Football is a much different game, but that % belies the idea of 100% recovery in 90% of athletes. Professional and high college athletes are pushing their bodies to the edge of the envelope all the time so they are more likely to notice less than 100% recovered skills and to also have some recurring problems.