ED RHEE Women’s volleyball player Angela
Eckmier, who was out last year with a torn ACL, returned
this season and is leading the conference in blocks.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The scar and black brace give away the fact that senior middle
blocker Angela Eckmier spent last season rehabilitating a torn ACL
in her right knee.
But you wouldn’t know it when she nails the timing on a
quick hit or from the fact that she leads the Bruins in blocks.
Four days into preseason training camp, Eckmier came down from a
block on a teammate’s foot, landed off-balance and crumpled
to the floor.
She couldn’t feel it right away, but a couple minutes
later, a twinge in the back of her knee forced her to ask the
trainer to pull her out.
“It wasn’t excruciating. I wasn’t screaming. I
wasn’t crying,” Eckmier recalled.
The next day, she practiced again, participating in everything
with the exception of hitting, because the back of her knee felt
tight.
When the pain worsened, Eckmier went to a specialist in Mammoth
who told her it was most likely an ACL tear. After hearing the
news, Eckmier decided to go home.
“She probably handled it better than anybody that
I’d ever seen handle it from the standpoint of, “˜Well,
I just have to get better,'” head coach Andy
Banachowski, who is coaching in his 35th season, said. “She
just knew that there was nothing she could do about it. The only
thing she could do was rehab and get stronger.”
In the early stages of what was supposed to be her breakout
season opposite Liz Bachman, Eckmier instead found herself at the
beginning of a different situation. One that forced her to rely on
her parents and trainers to feed her ice chips right after surgery
because she couldn’t even drink water.
Her younger sister, Melody, a middle blocker for Hawaii, had
gone through the rehab of an ACL, MCL and cartilage injury just a
year and a half earlier, which gave Angela an idea of what to
expect.
“I saw the shrieks and the shrills when she was moving
around after surgery, and I was expecting the worst from what I had
seen her go through,” Eckmier said.
Melody’s support paired with Angela’s deep-rooted
religious belief helped her maintain perspective and a sense of
hope through the whole process.
“As a Christian, I know that God is in control of my life
and the situation, and there was a reason for this to
happen,” Eckmier said. “I mean what can you do,
you’re an athlete, injuries happen.”
With three weeks between the injury and the surgery, Eckmier had
plenty of time to think.
After Eckmier accepted that she would not play the rest of the
season, she had two options: work towards getting back on the court
or feel sorry for herself.
The latter wasn’t ever considered an option.
“I was looking forward to starting and having a presence
out there on the court. That’s where I wanted to be, wanted
to see myself,” Eckmier said, “and I decided that I was
going to work to get myself back there.”
Her first step came even before the surgery, when she spent time
on the bike strengthening her leg muscles.
Rehab started just three days after the surgery, even though she
couldn’t lift her leg onto the table by herself.
“The way I took it after surgery, I set little goals for
myself,” Eckmier said. “The whole season was about
setting a goal, getting there and setting a new goal, so at least I
felt like I was getting somewhere.”
Eckmier spent hours on the bike, just moving the pedal up and
back, pushing her knee to do more, and for awhile, it just
wouldn’t go around.
Eckmier beams when she describes the first time the pedal made a
full circle.
“One day I was just sitting there and I finally just
relaxed and finally it just rolled over, and I was like “˜I
did it,'” Eckmier said. “I had been trying so
hard, and it’s painful but you have to force it a little bit
at a time, and finally it just went over. I was just so excited.
That was my first step.”
It wasn’t until late February that Eckmier started
running, and she didn’t start practicing until the beginning
of May.
Then over Memorial Day weekend, almost nine months after her
surgery, Eckmier returned to action at the Open Nationals, a
national tournament, which features teams from all over the
world.
Her timing was a bit off, and she wasn’t moving as fast as
she would have liked. Yet the times when she did connect and slam
the ball or nail a block, Eckmier knew she was progressing toward
her previous athletic condition.
It didn’t come as a surprise to her teammates or coaches
when Eckmier returned this season at full strength.
“Angela lives for the weight room,” senior setter
Erika Selsor said, “and there was no doubt in my mind that
she would have the strength back. I just didn’t know how long
it would take her to get back.”
Eckmier is back and is stronger than ever. Banachowski noted
that she is just about at the same point she would have been at if
she hadn’t gone through the injury and rehab.
By next season, Eckmier won’t even have to wear the brace
on her right knee. The injury will be another experience in her
life that she faced head on and came out on top.