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“You have to prove to be a better captain, Flo. Because you’re not acting like one during practice.” That’s how the conversation went between my high school basketball coach and I. Now, I can't lie, I had moments where I did fool around, joke around, and not practice as hard as I should. So, in retrospect I appreciate that conversation my coach and I had. Anyways, let's fast forward to what happened after that conversation… I listened to what he said, I let it marinate, and I took action. This was the practice before an important game. Coach gave us a drill to run, and right after explaining it, he said, “Flo, demonstrate how it's supposed to look.” Then he gave me this look, like, ‘this is the time to show me you still want to be a captain.” So, I demonstrated this drill like my captain spot and starting spot depended on it. Right when I was about to finish the drill, BOOM! I dropped to the floor. I felt my knee buckle, and I just collapsed to the floor. Initially, I felt nothing; the first thing I did was giggle and say my ankle hurt. I took a 5 second pause because I felt nothing in the moment and everything went silent. I yelled out for help as tears filled my eyes, realizing I was in excruciating agony. And then it hit me… the pain I was feeling was in my knee all along. My athletic trainer came and did what amazing athletic trainers do. Eventually I saw a doctor, took x-rays, and just like that — I had a torn ACL.
