Turning around to rebound the ball after missing a shot in a game of Knockout with her teammates before their spring league practice, senior Sonya Petersen, at that time a sophomore, heard and felt her knee pop. After 20 seconds of immense pain, everything felt fine to the point where Petersen thought she would just be out for a few weeks.

“I didn’t feel like I hurt it that bad,” Petersen said. “My teammate, Samantha Cowles, was like ‘What if you tore your ACL?’ and laughed out loud because I was like, ‘There’s no way I tore my ACL. That’s ridiculous.’”

After being told not to participate in practice or games and using crutches to walk for three weeks, Petersen decided to go to the doctor. The doctors performed a test on her leg; they still couldn’t determine if her ACL was intact, so Petersen got an MRI.

Petersen then waited about a week or so to find out the official results. When she did finally get the results, she was in Mr. Pew’s Algebra II class when her sub, who was her mom and Mac math teacher Julieann Petersen, got an email from the doctors.

“She came over in class and was like ‘It’s torn,’” Petersen said. “I left the room and was very upset. I felt really sad. While my experience in no way compared to the loss of a loved one, I still felt like I had lost a version of the athlete I could’ve been if I hadn’t torn my ACL.”

Sophomore year was Petersen’s first year on varsity, and while she didn’t get a ton of playing time at the beginning, towards the end of the year, she was one of the starting five.

“I was looking forward to two whole years of getting to be a starter,” Petersen said. “Not only is that time gone, but I got worse during that time, so I had to put in a ton of hard work to get back to where I was.”

Head basketball coach Carly Kehn also noticed that towards the end of her sophomore season, Petersen was starting to gain more confidence and grow as a player.

“[Myself and the coaches] really thought it was going to be her year [junior year],” Kehn said. “As a sophomore, she was a little more hesitant, but she would have really good spurts where she would cut, and she loves her baseline drives.”

Since Petersen injured herself between the basketball class practice and spring league practice, Kehn was devasted for Petersen when she heard about Petersen’s injury.

“They were just playing Knockout, so that was a bummer,” Kehn said. “I mean it’s a bummer either way, but it wasn’t even a game. Another reason why I felt awful was that it was one of the few days I left and had the assistants cover. That tore me up because I wasn’t there to help.”

Because both of the female assistant coaches for basketball, Elizabeth Miller and Tabitha Villarreal, have experienced ACL tears before and have informed Kehn about their experiences, Kehn understood some of the feelings that Petersen might have while navigating her recovery.

“[Coach V and Miller] both have such a good perspective on how the process works and people [Petersen] could lean on,” Kehn said.

While Petersen did have people that she could turn to during her injury, nothing prepared her for how emotionally taxing it would be.

“I hate to admit this, but I was kinda contemplating not coming back to basketball,” Petersen said. “I knew that if I was on the team still, I would have to go to every practice, every game, and [every] thing during my junior year, the busiest time, but not even play. Just watch them play.”

Petersen would have to dedicate 17 hours a week to a sport when she couldn’t even play while juggling her schoolwork.

“I decided against [not playing] because the community is so good,” Petersen said. “If I left, I know that I would do my best to keep in touch with all of my friends from there, but it would be really hard because I don’t have classes with any of them. I’ve just met so many people from there.”

Making the choice to stay for her junior year wasn’t easy for Petersen, but she was glad that she decided to. Petersen got to focus on helping her fellow teammates, then freshman Ruby Airhart and sophomores Mary Briceño and Sofia Villaneueva, with their first-year-on-varsity adjustment.

“I wasn’t too focused on myself, on doing my best game, because I wasn’t playing, so I was making social connections on the team,” Petersen said. “After games when they were upset with how they played, I would tell them what I wished people would’ve told me. I just tried to help them through that because I knew how hard the first year was.”

Now sophomore Airhart realizes the impact and importance of Petersen making those connections with the team and how it affected her joining the team.

“She reached out and wasn’t like ‘Oh we’re just teammates,’” Airhart said. “Outside of basketball she still tried to make me feel very welcome, which I think is very helpful. She’s just been very encouraging on the sidelines, and she always has a good thing to say about people.”

Kehn also acknowledges the social impact that Petersen has made on the program.

“She gets along with everyone on all levels and brings everyone together,” Kehn said. “We saw that last year where everyone in the program feels like they can talk to her.”

Another way that Petersen has made an impact on the basketball program is through the introduction and leading of new ACL-preventing stretches and exercises such as lunges on Romanian deadlifts, or RDLs.

One way that Petersen could tell that she was at risk of tearing her ACL was that when she squatted and went back up, her right knee would cave in. Five other players in the basketball program have also realized that their knees caved in. So now during warmup, Petersen and the others such as Airhart, go into their own group. This allows Petersen to make sure that these at-risk players are stretching their ACLs correctly.

One person who Petersen attributes to her recovery going smoothly is her physical therapist, Kevin McHorse.

“Kevin was the best PT I could’ve asked for,” Petersen said. “He was able to motivate me to do my physical therapy and my workouts even when I didn’t feel like it, which I am so grateful for.”

Petersen is excited to get back onto the court, and while having a long-term and detrimental injury like tearing an ACL might cause some fear, Petersen is determined to not let it.

“I’m just going to give it my all,” Petersen said. “If I retear it, then I would be really sad, but I don’t want to go into a game playing scared or timid.”

Looking towards the start of the season Petersen is most looking forward to getting to know the new varsity team and the team bonding.

“We have great people, but especially on varsity, even though we lost a lot of really good seniors, who I love and miss, I think the group has a lot of potential and has some really amazing personalities,” she said. “It’s going to be really fun, especially with tournaments when we get to go to hotels and restaurants together and play poker.”

While missing the entirety of last season was hard on Petersen, she is excited for the opportunities this season brings and will take nothing for granted.

“This experience made me reflect on how other areas of my life could be randomly disrupted and how I could make the most of everything I participate in,” she said.

This story was originally published on The Shield Online on December 11, 2024.