Navigating the Journey: Road to Recovery with Coach Tighe

During the last VJBL season, I had the privilege of coaching an exceptional group of under-14 athletes from Sunbury. This blog focuses on one athlete who encountered adversity due to a season-ending injury. It details how I collaborated with him, his parents, and his medical team to maintain his engagement with the sport and support his mental and physical recovery.

Andrew is one of the most inspirational young athletes I have met. This young man's dedication to the sport has been with him from the first moment I met him as a 5 year old. His mother sent me a photo of him with me at a clinic in Sunbury when he was 5 and I had hair. He loves the sport so much I organised a 7th birthday party for him at the stadium where we ran a clinic for him and his friends.

If we fast forward to 2023 on the 1st of October he felt some pain in his knee with some swelling. I advised that he see a doctor and physio to get it looked at and get a clearance before he played. He came back with restrictions and he and his parents did everything they were told to look after his injury.

On the 1st of December, while on limited minutes early in the game, Andrew got a defensive stop and rim run on a fast break. He caught the ball in transition and layed it up against a defender, drew the foul and landed on his feet. After walking to the foul line to take his free throw he started clutching at his left knee and asked to be subbed out. Looking at the tape of the game, there is no clear indication of the mechanism for the injury. It could have been on the defensive play before the fast break or on the takeoff or landing of the contact layup.

Andrew was taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, where he was referred to have scans. The scans results showed that a section of his cartilage had disconnected from inside his knee.

Andrew underwent surgery. He was lucky that the 2.5 X 4.5cm section of cartilage came off in one piece, and was easier to reattach to his bone.

Pre and post surgery Andrew continued to be included in our team as a valued member. During tournaments and every Friday night Andrew worked hard on scouting. He would provide me with

vital information from the opposing team. He worked hard to give me top scorers, who was foul prone and who was deadly from 3. During games, he also felt comfortable giving me suggestions on offensive and defensive changeups. During the season he hardly missed a game (home or away). His commitment to his teammates was unwavering. This is testament to his parents who volunteered to tape our games and understood how much being around the team was a good thing for his mental state during his recovery.

While at training, he continued shooting and working on his form. Because he was not going to play with a size 6 again, we got him shooting and seated handling with a size 7 basketball. Once he was able to, he started moving in straight lines and working on his strength in his leg. After a few more tests he was diagnosed with Hyperflexibility in all his joints. It is extremely important for him to build strength to limit the risk of his hyperflexibility causing damage in his joints in the future.

Andrew got to the stage where he could start individual training again. After consulting with his Exercise Physiologist and Surgeon we slowly began building basketball-specific exercises to build strength and skill.

While working hard on and off the court, his team won their division in VJBL. Andrew was a crucial part of our success and I didn't hesitate to give my grand final medal to him.

We focused on mechanics and took the opportunity to build good habits. Andrew and I have worked together slowly building and, after gaining clearance, we upped the training from mechanical static workouts to running, to changing directions. Early 2025 he got clearance for contact training and on the Australia Day weekend he played his first proper minutes in over a year.

I, as a coach, am in awe of his drive, determination and grit. Andrew is the most inspirational junior athletes who loves the game unconditionally.

We continue to work towards getting better every day and I am excited to see what the future brings for Andrew's basketball.

Coach Tighe.