Richmond athletes battle back from torn ACLs

Geriot can relate to that pain. Before tearing his ACL, the only issue he ever had was spraining his medial collateral ligament in the spring of 2008 that kept him out one week. As soon as he tore his ACL, he had limited mobility and it took a while for him to get it back.

"You just don't see great strides early," Geriot said. "Two-degrees of bending your knee becomes like a great thing which is not that much."

That process is especially hard for athletes, because of what they used to be able to do, said Geriot.

"You never realize the stuff you can do can go away with the injury," he said. "It kind of went away from me for a while, even last season. That's hard, it's a lot mental."

The mental aspect is one of the hardest parts of the rehabilitation process. When athletes build up enough strength in their knee, they are cleared by doctors to start to run and jog.

But although the doctors have declared them healthy, Samantha said it still took a while for athletes to get their confidence back.

"I think, in the beginning, when I first started going into drills not fully cleared, there's definitely [thoughts] like, 'Well, I don't need to contest [Richmond center] Crystal Goring for that offensive rebound.'

"I think a lot of [getting over any hesitation] will be repetition and playing and just getting out there. Eventually I'm hoping it will all just go away and I'll be a normal athlete," Samantha said.

Doctors have questioned whether Samantha will ever be a normal athlete again. She has heard from doctors that most people who tear their ACL four times and need a bone graft in their knee do not make it back to their original playing level.

"It kind of made me angry," she said. "I had already had the bone graft done and then was told that a lot of people don't come back from that. It was my only option, it was the only thing I could do. When you've got big holes in your knees, you can't attach an ACL through there.

"That was the reality of the situation, I didn't have another option and I wanted to play, she said. "I was going to do what I could."

Despite what she has gone through, Samantha has never stopped to wonder why it keeps happening to her.

"That's actually a question that I avoid, that I don't want to ask myself," Samantha said. "It's an unanswerable question, I can't tell you why me nor can anyone else explain anything. Instead of 'Why me?' it's 'I've recovered before and can do it again.'"

Both Samantha and Geriot have missed a full season of basketball while rehabbing their injury and Rachael is sitting out this season while she recovers. Sitting out the full season allows them to redshirt that year and get a fifth year of eligibility.

"There's never an ideal time to get injured, but like my freshman year when I tore it 22 games into the season, those are games you lose," Samantha said. "Having done it in October [2009] and facing a whole year of recovery, it's a lot better to try to get that redshirt year than to lose the middle [of a season]."

Four ACL tears have left their mark on Samantha. She said that it has taken away some of her jumping ability but she tries not to think about it.

"Back in the day, I could grab rim easily," Samantha said. "Now, maybe off the left [leg] I could. Off the right one, I haven't tried. It's not really necessary to do. I try not to notice it because I'm healed."

Before the first game for the women's team on Nov. 12, Samantha had not played since tearing her ACL in her left knee in a game at Duquesne University of Feb. 1, 2009. Because the Bilney twins have not played together in a game since then, it made Rachael's injury two days before the start of practice that much tougher to take.

"The timing was compounded by the fact that Sam was finally going to be able to play," Rachael said. "So that was what I was most looking forward to because we hadn't played together in like two years."

When the athletes get back to the court for the first time since tearing their ACL, they face a wide variety of emotions. Samantha said that she cried every time she came back.

Geriot said that getting back last year made him realize how hard it was to get back to his All Atlantic-10 Conference status before his injury.

"I was tired against Lehigh [Geriot's first game back last year], that was my first reaction," he said. "Me and coach talked a lot, looking back on it, it's really easy to do well in rehab and it's easy to come back and almost be the leader I was. But it's hard to be good at basketball again."

Although Geriot was able to score his 1,000th career point last year, it wasn't the year that he wanted. In coming back from his ACL injury, Geriot added about 25 pounds to get stronger but that took away from the quickness that made him effective during his first two years. He also played some of the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder that required surgery after the season and his numbers suffered.

Now, Geriot said he is completely healthy.

"I'd probably say last year, looking back on it, I was really close to 100 percent but just some plays I was just hesitant to let myself go," he said. "But now I really do feel great out there and my confidence is through the roof."

Although Samantha is able to play basketball now, there are questions about how healthy her knees will be in the future. She already has arthritis in her knee as the result of tearing her meniscus and doctors have told her that there's a high potential she will need to have her knee replaced. But despite all that, she said there was no thought about stopping.

"I was 19 and already had four ACL tears and I figure I'm still pretty young and I love to play college basketball," she said.

With a smile, Samantha got up after answering the last question and headed out to practice, risking her future for a chance to play the game she loves, knee braces and all.

Contact staff writer Andrew Prezioso at andrew.prezioso@richmond.edu