In his sophomore year, Cam Linder, who had moved up to play on varsity this season in football, suffered an injury that forced him to miss the remainder of his season shortly after. This injury also held other limits on him, too. Linder was also not able to play basketball this season either, forcing him to sit on the bench from start to finish.
“I was doing a pass rush one on one drill at football practice over fall break and I ended up tearing my ACL, meniscus and cartilage,” Linder said. “I ended up having to get surgery about a month and a half later.”
While this may be a devastating occurrence to happen in his first year playing on varsity, it doesn’t put too many restrictions on his everyday life.
“My injury doesn’t really limit my normal life, but I can’t play any sports and do my normal exercises and workouts for a few months,” Linder said.
This injury was truly life changing to Linder. Various obstacles were thrown in his way in both sports and basic life skills standpoints.
“After getting this injury I felt sad for a long time,” Linder said. “Getting called up to varsity and only after playing a few games and then ending up hurt for the rest of the season was devastating.”
Obtaining an injury to this degree makes Linder’s everyday activities look different, adding some struggle.
“In the beginning I just struggled to get around and do things that I used to be able to do easily,” Linder said. “I couldn’t get up and down stairs like normal, it was hard getting in and out of the car and things like that.”
Linder projects to not be facing many obstacles while getting back on the pace he was playing at before the injury.
“I’m expected to have a full recovery but I will have some limits for physical activity for a while,” Linder said. “I’m out for the whole basketball season and I will most likely be back around June.”
Just because he can’t play basketball in a game doesn’t mean Linder is going to give up on practicing.
“I have been shooting mainly because I can’t move around much,” Linder said. “I’ve been focusing on my form for the most part.”
There are a lot of different ways people can bounce back from injuries. Linder has to go to physical therapy to do various types of stretches and workouts, and he also makes up different kinds of workouts as well as the same ones from physical therapy to try while at home.
“When I go to rehab I do dynamic stretching, power cleans with a special bag, squats with a mace, and backwards walking on a treadmill. At home I jog on the treadmill, leg raises, and most of the same stuff from the rehab facility,” Linder said.
When Linder got hurt he knew he was going to have to sit on the bench for a long time, which made him dejected. He came to realize that being on the bench was another opportunity for learning more about the game and the plays they run.
“Being on the bench with all the coaches has really made me analyze the game closer,” Linder said.
Injuries can have a different effect on people emotionally. Once Linder sustained the injury he became extremely saddened.
“My injury hit me hard emotionally just as much as physically,” Linder said. “It was really discouraging since I couldn’t get back on the field and missed the rest of the season for football and also couldn’t play any of the basketball season also. The worst part was not being able to play basketball with my friends anymore, and the injury taking up most of my life.”
