Back in the game

By Jayson Jenks

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Thirty minutes or so before tipoff, Kansas’ players participate in one of the more mundane and standard aspects of basketball at any level: pregame warm ups.

Each game, the Jayhawks pass, weave and pass again, a ritual so entrenched in the minds of players that they could most likely complete it in a dark Allen Fieldhouse.

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Photo by Jerry Wang

Freshman guard Angel Goodrich missed the 2008 season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee. Goodrich was cleared for full-contact practice after a long and draining rehabilitation.

Yet, the layup drill represented something unique for freshman guard Angel Goodrich: a step closer toward being able to play after a long and draining rehab process. In the minutes leading up to Kansas’ game against Oklahoma in Oklahoma City on March 13, Goodrich rushed to join the end of the layup line after receiving permission from athletic trainer Ann Turner.

It was the first time she’d been able to participate this season.

“I was a little nervous because everyone has to make (a layup) before we stop so I was like, ‘Oh man, I’m going to miss mine,’” Goodrich said. “But I made it and everyone was yelling and stuff.”

Late yesterday afternoon, Goodrich visited the doctor again. And this time, Goodrich heard the news she’s waited an entire season to hear: She had been cleared for full-contact practice six months after the unthinkable happened.

Goodrich’s highly anticipated debut ended before it ever officially started. While competing in a preseason workout on Oct. 19, Goodrich crossed over, attempted to plant her left foot and immediately felt a stinging pain in her knee.

“It hurt so bad, it felt like I broke it,” Goodrich said.

After practice, Goodrich visited a doctor who administered a series of tests that eventually led to an unfortunate diagnosis: a torn ACL. Just two days after impressing thousands at Late Night, Goodrich’s season was over. She had reconstructive surgery on Oct. 29.

The week following the diagnosis left Goodrich devastated. Her mother, Fayth Lewis, who departed Lawrence shortly before the injury occurred, returned from Tahlequah, Okla., to comfort her 19-year-old daughter still crushed from the recent developments.

Without basketball, a sport thoroughly etched in her daily life, Goodrich felt lost at a school that was still somewhat unfamiliar.

“The first couple of days I bawled like a baby,” Goodrich said. “I was so heartbroken. I didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to eat.”

“When basketball is their life and all the sudden it’s taken away, it gets a little bit trying,” Turner said.

Yet, in the past month, Goodrich’s daily involvement has significantly increased. Once forced to simply watch and stand off to the side during practice, Goodrich now participates in almost every drill that doesn’t involve contact or defense.

She lifts weights with teammates and participated in a demanding conditioning drill that required players to run five lengths of the court in one minute.

“I was two seconds off,” Goodrich said. “And I was so tired afterwards.”

But the road to reaching that small milestone was paved with individual, and often difficult, rehab training. Working independently from teammates for much of the season, Goodrich slowly labored each day to regain her form.

“(Rehab) hurt so bad with my knee,” Goodrich said. “Then I started doing more fun stuff. Well, not fun, but being able to do the elliptical and bike was OK. I mean, people wouldn’t say it was fun but it was fun for me because I hadn’t done anything.”

Before Kansas’ regular season finale at Iowa State, Goodrich ran up and down the arena’s stairs — a training method called stadiums — to the background noise of her teammates’ yells.

In each step of the recovery process, the rest of the Jayhawks, especially injured teammate Katie Smith, have been an informal support system.

“They’ve been really good about patting her on the back when she’s doing some stuff that’s not very fun,” coach Bonnie Henrickson said.

Still, even now Goodrich won’t deny the pain — the emotionally deflating result of having her debut season stripped from her. Once the game is gone, how does a player cope?

The inability to practice, to even jump on a shot attempt, took its toll on Goodrich, the 2007 Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year who spurned offers from powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas A&M to join Henrickson at Kansas.

From her seat at the end of the bench, Goodrich struggled with the role of spectator, relegated to observation instead of activity.

“It was like my heart was ripped out. I was devastated,” Goodrich said. “To be honest, I didn’t even want to come to games knowing that I couldn’t help, or at least in the way that I wanted to.”

Before the season started, before Goodrich ever played a collegiate minute, many pegged her as a program-changing point guard. Generously listed at 5-foot-4, Goodrich is a consummate playmaker, both for herself and others.

The day before Kansas’ game at Oklahoma State on Feb. 25, Henrickson offered up similarities between Goodrich and the Cowgirls’ 5-foot-5 Andrea Riley, a speedy guard who also happens to be the Big 12’s most prolific scorer.

“Angel’s not going to get her shot blocked much. She’s a little kid that’s got to get inside of you to score,” Henrickson said. “Those are gifted athletes that can do that. Andrea (Riley) is one of them, Sherron (Collins) is one on the men’s team and Angel is one of them, too.”

Indeed, the general consensus is that Goodrich is an immediate difference maker, and the desire to help reshape the program is one reason she opted to become a Jayhawk in the first place.

Once next season starts, Goodrich will be a redshirt freshman, meaning she still has four years of eligibility left.

But before any of that can happen, Goodrich must continue the rehab process — one that’s been filled with emotional and physical obstacles.

“I just appreciate the game,” Goodrich said. “I mean, being taken away from it and letting it get to me — once I get to step on the floor again, that will be the greatest day of my life.”

— — Edited by Casey Miles

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