| This season fans will have the opportunity to see first-hand what it’s like to be a part of the women’s basketball program at Georgia Tech in a series of online journal entries at Ramblinwreck.com written by freshman Shaday “Day-Day” Woolcock. |
Check out Day-Day’s latest entry below:
Sept. 10, 2007 –
Entry #1
This summer marked the start of my college at Georgia Tech and as a member of the women’s basketball team. Mentally, I saw myself as being ready. Ready for it all, the books and the workouts, but physically, it was obvious that I wasn’t. During the ending of my junior year in high school, I experienced a lot of pain in my shin and after finally going to get it checked out, I was told that I had cracked my tibia bone and may end up having to insert a rod in my leg. To hear this news was very terrifying. I had been a star guard for Avondale High School and a D-I committed athlete to a top ACC program and I knew I had big shoes to fill and expectations to meet. On top of all that, I just wanted to play and have a shot at back-to-back State Championships with my high school teammates.
As time progressed, the question about the rod became more of an issue. Fortunately, I was told I could go without it if I was to stay off my leg and not be hard headed. This meant NO basketball. My senior year started and I still wasn’t able to play. Sitting on the bench, watching my teammates compete had to be the most devastating feeling I’ve had, but I realized that it was certain sacrifices I had to make in order to be well prepared for my college career.
I never thought I would be released to play in time for the playoffs. I was in the hands of some of the best doctors and they weren’t just going to allow me to play while injured, but there was hope. After months of staying off my leg and popping calcium pills, I was released to play twenty minutes in a region playoff game we had coming up in a week. Christmas, neither my birthday, nor any other holiday could have expressed the way I felt when I heard the news. I was on such a high, I didn’t take the time to think that I haven’t ran in months and conditioning for a playoff game, that was a week away, is going to be tough. Yet, I gave it my all and when game day came I was suited up and ready to go.
The game was going pretty good. I was getting some buckets, steals, assists and rebounds, and not once did I have any problems with my shin. With less than four minutes to go on the clock I began getting excited. We had the game in our hands but unfortunately when about 3:45 struck, my life was about to turn down another arduous path. I took off running for a fast break and about midway down the court it felt as if my ankle had just fallen off. My assumption was that I was kicked in the back of my ankle because there were two defenders chasing me. I was taken off to the sideline and wasn’t able to complete the game. My teammates fought hard but sadly we didn’t win.
From the start, I knew something was wrong but I didn’t want to believe it. I had just been released and hearing more bad news was not an option for me. My mother worries a lot so I tried to play it off as a bad sprain, but that didn’t work too long because it began swelling so much and I could no longer fake the pain. After four days, I went back to the same doctor’s office I had just been released from. After an MRI, Dr. X came back and told me the worst news ever. I had completely ruptured my Achilles tendon, a very rare injury for a female my age, and Dr. Labib would be doing my surgery within the next two days. This injury requires an average of eight months to a year recovery period. Words can never express the way I felt. Even more, I wondered, how am I going to tell my Georgia Tech coaches this information?
It’s been right at six months now and I am back conditioning and training, but some activities are still limited. I really admire the commitment my coaches have made towards me regardless to the situation. The only problem now is I have a lot of catching up to do. This time to the level of an ACC ball player, and it is tough. We have one of the greatest coaching staffs of women’s college basketball here at Tech and they are going to push you in everyway possible. We condition so much sometimes I feel like I’m on the cross country team but honestly it’s not just the conditioning that’s so hard. I haven’t really conditioned hard in eights months and coming back to condition at this level is tough but what makes it worst is conditioning in pain. I’ve never been the type of player to use an injury as an excuse though, so I fight through it, mind over matter, and with the support of many people throughout the Women’s Basketball Department and my family, I get better everyday. I look forward to what the season will bring and what God has in store for me. Hopefully it doesn’t include anymore injuries.
– Shaday “Day-Day” Woolcock
