Personal Narrative: My Journey With An ACL
My journey with an ACL
Friday 26th of February: This was a very important day for the team, we needed to win to keep our chances of playing Met 1, playing against Knox 2 at Slater Reserve who whooped us in the past year by 14 points. It was one of the most physical games of basketball I’ve ever played. In the last quarter with a minute and thirty seconds, was when the shocking accident happened. We were up by a couple of points, and doing our full court press to apply as much pressure as possible. In the press I was playing a sweeper, and roll picking off any long passes that tried to get through our press. They were inbounding the ball from the sideline from in front of our bench. I instructed the boys to get into the arrow formation. I could …show more content…
read the in-bounders actions and had a sense he was going long.
He went to pass, and I took a couple steps to stop that pass. I then saw that he looked on the far side of the court, and I dashed to the other side to intercept the ball. I got there with exceptional timing, I soared in the air to steal the ball, yet as I came through, collecting the ball, number 23 for Knox pulled my arm back to prevent me from landing safely. The bottom half of me got caught under my back. I knew straight away that I had injured my knee. Originally I thought it was just a jar, and I got up and hobbled five metres. I then collapsed, knowing that I’ve done more than just a jar. My coaches helped me off the court and applied ice straight away, trying to get back to the last minute of the game. We ended up winning by a point! I had an adrenaline rush and was able to walk over to shake the players and refs hands. After the team talk, and many people asking how I was, we were ready to go to the car. As I was talking to Vike, heading towards the car, my knee buckled under me and I collapsed on the concrete screaming with pain. I took deep breaths while dad went to the car, and brought it closer to me. I hopped in and went to drop off Michael and Vike. We then continued home and I went straight to my bedroom and sat on my bed
with my head in my hands. I thought that I wasn’t ever going to be able play sport again. When mum and Keira got home, we elevated it, and iced it for 20 minutes. During this time, I cried myself to sleep and that was the end to a terrible Friday.
Saturday 26th of February: I woke up at 2am to go to the bathroom. I struggled walking down our long hall wall. In the bathroom I called for mum to come and help me to my room. As she grabbed me by the back I dropped my crutches, and fainted, smashing my head against the wall. Helen was in shock and didn’t know what to do. Dad came stampeding down the hall wall eventually helping mum walk me to the couch, and I finished my sleep there. At 9am we had booked to see a doctor at the Sports Medical Centre. We met with Dr Brendon Aubrey who instructed us to get an X-ray and MRI done straight away to find the exact details from my accident. After both procedures we went back to Dr Aubrey to tell us the news. I had a feeling deep down that I wouldn’t be able to play sport for a while. When he said that I’ve torn my ACL, I immediately broke down into tears, and then he continued to pile on with other ligaments and my meniscus of which I had also torn. After this, we went to go see my Papou who broke down into tears when he found out what happened. On the way home Dad mentioned that the only two times his seen his dad cried was when I was born and today. At home dad was getting calls from everyone. My cousin came over to see how I was going, I rang a coach who is involved with interleague and Oakleigh Chargers and within an hour he was down in Richmond to see me. We had spent time watching and playing footy together, which had helped me in such a big away. This man is extremely special, and influential, in my life. I am so lucky to have someone that cares so much about me, who isn’t even blood related, yet feels like an uncle to me. That night I made mum and dad go to the musical they had planned for their anniversary to have some time off from me. I later checked Instagram and saw that Vike had put a picture on Instagram for me. “Prayers out to @petervamvakitis hate to see not only a great player, get injured, but also brother”. This made me cry for at least half an hour before I went to bed, since I absolutely love Vike as a brother as well.
Sunday 27th of February:
Friday 26th of February: This was a very important day for the team, we needed to win to keep our chances of playing Met 1, playing against Knox 2 at Slater Reserve who whooped us in the past year by 14 points. It was one of the most physical games of basketball I’ve ever played. In the last quarter with a minute and thirty seconds, was when the shocking accident happened. We were up by a couple of points, and doing our full court press to apply as much pressure as possible. In the press I was playing a sweeper, and roll picking off any long passes that tried to get through our press. They were inbounding the ball from the sideline from in front of our bench. I instructed the boys to get into the arrow formation. I could …show more content…
read the in-bounders actions and had a sense he was going long.
He went to pass, and I took a couple steps to stop that pass. I then saw that he looked on the far side of the court, and I dashed to the other side to intercept the ball. I got there with exceptional timing, I soared in the air to steal the ball, yet as I came through, collecting the ball, number 23 for Knox pulled my arm back to prevent me from landing safely. The bottom half of me got caught under my back. I knew straight away that I had injured my knee. Originally I thought it was just a jar, and I got up and hobbled five metres. I then collapsed, knowing that I’ve done more than just a jar. My coaches helped me off the court and applied ice straight away, trying to get back to the last minute of the game. We ended up winning by a point! I had an adrenaline rush and was able to walk over to shake the players and refs hands. After the team talk, and many people asking how I was, we were ready to go to the car. As I was talking to Vike, heading towards the car, my knee buckled under me and I collapsed on the concrete screaming with pain. I took deep breaths while dad went to the car, and brought it closer to me. I hopped in and went to drop off Michael and Vike. We then continued home and I went straight to my bedroom and sat on my bed
with my head in my hands. I thought that I wasn’t ever going to be able play sport again. When mum and Keira got home, we elevated it, and iced it for 20 minutes. During this time, I cried myself to sleep and that was the end to a terrible Friday.
Saturday 26th of February: I woke up at 2am to go to the bathroom. I struggled walking down our long hall wall. In the bathroom I called for mum to come and help me to my room. As she grabbed me by the back I dropped my crutches, and fainted, smashing my head against the wall. Helen was in shock and didn’t know what to do. Dad came stampeding down the hall wall eventually helping mum walk me to the couch, and I finished my sleep there. At 9am we had booked to see a doctor at the Sports Medical Centre. We met with Dr Brendon Aubrey who instructed us to get an X-ray and MRI done straight away to find the exact details from my accident. After both procedures we went back to Dr Aubrey to tell us the news. I had a feeling deep down that I wouldn’t be able to play sport for a while. When he said that I’ve torn my ACL, I immediately broke down into tears, and then he continued to pile on with other ligaments and my meniscus of which I had also torn. After this, we went to go see my Papou who broke down into tears when he found out what happened. On the way home Dad mentioned that the only two times his seen his dad cried was when I was born and today. At home dad was getting calls from everyone. My cousin came over to see how I was going, I rang a coach who is involved with interleague and Oakleigh Chargers and within an hour he was down in Richmond to see me. We had spent time watching and playing footy together, which had helped me in such a big away. This man is extremely special, and influential, in my life. I am so lucky to have someone that cares so much about me, who isn’t even blood related, yet feels like an uncle to me. That night I made mum and dad go to the musical they had planned for their anniversary to have some time off from me. I later checked Instagram and saw that Vike had put a picture on Instagram for me. “Prayers out to @petervamvakitis hate to see not only a great player, get injured, but also brother”. This made me cry for at least half an hour before I went to bed, since I absolutely love Vike as a brother as well.
Sunday 27th of February: