Game Changer

Game Changer

I hadn’t ever had a serious, life-changing injury, unless you count breaking an ankle during a 7th grade basketball game. But now, there I was, sitting on the sidelines during volleyball playoffs, one of our biggest games of the season, knowing that after one awkward landing, I was going to have to have surgery…again.

But, I should probably start from the beginning. Eight months earlier at a volleyball match in California, I tore my ACL, a major ligament that holds the knee together. Less than a week after the tear, I had arthroscopic knee surgery to repair the shredded ligament. I spent the weekend in bed, and by Monday was back in school. The very next week, I crutched myself out to boot camp run by Yancy Culp. I couldn’t do any work on my leg because of doctor’s restrictions, but I was out there working three times a week on arm and core strength. I received regular texts from Yancy telling me when and where my workout would be, no questions asked. I knew that going to physical therapy three times a week wasn’t going to get me back into volleyball-ready shape; Yancy Culp and his workout regime for both the mental and physical aspects of the sport was the road to my recovery.

Throughout this six-month recovery process, Yancy was the person I turned to for help. Whether it was individual workouts, group boot camps or a meaningful text, Yancy was always pushing me to be a better athlete, to come back stronger than I had been before my injury. In every workout, Yancy would remind me that we were “taking advantage of the injury,” so mentally, I was actually looking forward to the benefits of my “setback.”

Continuously throughout all of the workouts, Yancy was by my side, pushing my limits. Because he was constantly there for me, he became my mentor and source of strength. He always believed I could do more and get further ahead of my athletic competition with the mental and physical conditioning we were working on.

Even after...