(The original text was published on january 5, and The author is Alex Athletic of The Schiffer website. The content of The article does not represent The translator’s point of view)
In the elite eight-strong battle of the NCAA national championship in 2022, Villanova University defeated the University of Houston by 50 to 44 and successfully entered the final four. At the last minute of the match, Justin Moore, a player from Villanova University, fell to the ground while holding the ball and attacking the basket. Severe pain soon spread all over his right leg. In addition to the current fear, he was worried that he might miss the final fourth round next week. A few minutes later, colorful pieces of paper fell from the ceiling and stopped on Moore’s face. His tears also fell with him. Moore’s teammates were celebrating this hard-won victory.
The team set off for New Orleans to prepare for the final four, while Moore had to undergo surgery, and the rupture of his right Achilles tendon hurt him.
A few days later, Moore, lying flat on the bed of hospitalism in Villanova student health center, had not yet gone through the afterlife of sensory anesthesia surgery. Just as Moore was thinking about the difficult road ahead, he received a text message from team coach Jay Wright, who told him that he would soon receive a call from an important person. Before Moore could reply to coach Wright’s text message, he called in as soon as he wrote a video call.
The caller is Kevin Durant!
“You will return with a better attitude, stronger than ever before.” The future Hall of Fame player told Moore through his experience gained from Achilles tendon tear injury in the past three years, “the current situation is different from before, you can completely return to your former state.”
“Don’t worry, take your time.”
Durant and Moore both grew up in Prince George County, Maryland. Moore also attended Durant’s training camp when he was a child. But now, in addition to these, the two have something in common: in almost the same position on the court, they suffered the same devastating injury in almost the same way. In 2019, the G5 Durant Achilles tendon of NBA Finals Warriors against Raptors broke. Moore suffered the same injury in the final four-strong NCAA in 7 years following the Villanova Wildcats.
Durant’s phone call refreshed Moore. Professional athletes and college players established ties to fight against injuries that once indicated the end of their career.
“Durant’s encouragement to me is very powerful,” Moore’s voice was full of optimism, “a top basketball player, a player who successfully recovered from injury, tell me I will be fine.”
Later, Durant recalled the call and said that he “just wanted Moore to know that I would wait for you in NBA”.
Durant was still recovering from Achilles tendon rupture in 2020. Dominic Wilkins said he hoped Durant could become a model for modern players to recover from the injury. Wilkins, a generalist, once suffered the same injury in 1992, but it only took him 9 months to recover. Durant did it. After the operation, he looked as overwhelming as before the operation. Now he is willing to help those players who also need long-term rehabilitation courses.
“Durant really did it and became a model for recovering from this kind of injury.” Wilkins said, “We need to pass on this torch. We have similar responsibilities in this respect.”
On last March, Durant noticed that coach Wright’s call notification was displayed on his mobile phone. He vaguely realized why coach Wright contacted him voluntarily. Coach Durant and Wright played for the US team together at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Wright was an assistant coach and Durant was a star player. Moreover, Durant also watched the match between Villanova and Houston in his penthouse apartment in Manhattan. He saw Moore lying on the ground in the live screen, and Durant’s face showed a painful look.
“I knew what happened when Moore fell to the ground,” Durant told coach Wright. “He looked exactly like me at that time.”
Durant wants Moore to realize that his career is not over yet, and injuries will not affect his chances of entering the NBA. After all, Durant, Clay Thompson, wall and many other players have successfully recovered from Achilles tendon injury.
“Moore’s career hasn’t even started yet,” Durant said of Moore. “I had almost my career at that time and could have chosen to retire directly.”
“I can imagine everything he has experienced and his worries about his future career from a psychological perspective. I just want him to relax first and let him know that he can recover all his strength. This is really a psychological problem that must be overcome in the process of recovery.”
Durant clearly remembered the moment when he learned that his Achilles tendon was really torn: Durant limped off the court and sat on the training table in the locker room of the visiting team of the Bank of London, Canada, where the Raptors were home. A trainer told Durant that now they would squeeze Durant’s calf to see if his feet still responded.
Durant said, “so after seeing them grab my calf and press it hard, my feet didn’t respond and I didn’t hold back. I know this feeling. I can imagine the emotional fluctuations moore experienced after entering the dressing room and want to find out what this situation means to his career.”
On last June, Moore posted a video of running on an anti-gravity treadmill 12 weeks after his surgery on Ins. Durant commented below: “Come on!” Two months later, Moore got the permission to start running and jumping. He found Durant and asked Durant how long it took Durant to make his legs complete these two movements easily. Durant replied that it took him about two weeks to finish running and jumping easily, adding that what he faced during the period was more a psychological disorder than a physical disorder.
At the end of November, eight months after the injury, Moore was finally able to fight in actual combat. He sent a text message to Durant again. This time, he wanted to know how durant felt that he had repaired his achilles tendon in a similar competition environment and how long it took to not think about the injury during the competition. Durant replied to Moore that this was a trial process, and he needed to try everything again, just like doing these things for the first time, from defensive landing to routine training, only in this way can we find ourselves again.
Although Durant gave many suggestions to other players, he did not seek advice from others during his recovery. He could have had a chat with his teammate, cosins, who had played 30 games in the Warriors, or maybe go to Rudi guy, both of whom suffered a torn Achilles tendon before Durant. However, Durant decided to solve it himself.
“This is more of my personal choice.” Durant said, “others can tell me how I feel and what I will experience, but I just want to experience it from my own perspective, not from any other perspective.”
Like Moore, Durant also received an inspiring text message from Kobe Bryant on the night when he suffered an Achilles tendon tear. Black Mamba tore his Achilles tendon at the age of 34 in 2013 and limped to freethrow line in the game. The Picture of hitting two free throws with pain and stability was praised.
Durant said Kobe said in a text message: “Don’t TM be like a clumsy girl. Everything will be fine. You will return to the stadium and continue to be yourself.”
Later, Kobe stayed with Durant for a few days and discussed with some physical therapy staff. But Durant said Kobe’s suggestion was just a suggestion, and he had to solve these problems himself.
Durant said: “when I was in a mess, I was very happy to hear kobe’s voice, not to mention that he experienced it at the end of his career.”
Durant said that there is a self-evident bond between those players who have experienced Achilles tendon tear. It’s the kind of relationship that I don’t say you understand, which is why Durant’s reply to Moore is more psychological than physical.
“The process of rehabilitation is actually the internal struggle between your identity as an individual and a basketball player. Because your whole life and career will be affected by Achilles tendon surgery and rehabilitation process.” Durant said.
In last October, in the opening match of the preseason against 76 people in basketable nets, Edmund Sumner returned to the bench after his first substitute appearance. He found Durant was looking for him.
Durant asked, “How do you feel?”
A short sentence is of great significance to Sumner. In September 2021, Sumner tore his Achilles tendon in a team-forming match in the Pacers Stadium. At that time, he was making a quick break and received a pass from TJ-McConaughey. After transporting the ball, he planned to lay on the basket. As a result, he suddenly fell on the floor. He thought someone knocked him down, but no one was near him at that time. Sumner immediately remembered many players, including Durant, who once said that the rupture of the Achilles tendon felt like being kicked from behind.
“I reacted immediately. I heard the loud voice in my mind,” said Sumner, who signed with basketable nets in last July. “So when I was lying on the ground, thinking of all the clues, I immediately realized that the Achilles tendon was broken.”
Sumner said that he had been unhappy for 24 hours after the injury, but he was optimistic in the end.
“I saw how Durant recovered from this injury. He is one of the strongest players in the world.” Sumner said, “I know I will be fine, and I also know how much effort I will put into it.”
Sumner said Durant’s recovery was one of the reasons why he chose surgeon Martin O’Malley. O’malley is the main knife doctor of durant’s achilles tendon surgery and currently works in a special surgery hospital in new york.
In December 2021, Sterling Shepard of the NFL Giants wide receiver tore his Achilles tendon. He also called Durant, who asked him to go directly to Dr. O’Malley.
O’Malley said that when he first came into contact with orthopedic surgery in the 1990 s, doctors often told athletes with broken Achilles tendon that such injuries would threaten their career. But now, the threat is beyond mention and will only bring changes to the career.
O’Malley said: “When I first came into contact with this kind of operation, the doctor would plaster the patient and keep hitting the thigh position. But now doctors know that the Achilles tendon cannot heal well when it is fixed, and it will also lead to severe atrophy of calf muscles.”
“Durant was cast for about 48 hours, then we replaced him with movable protective gear and began to treat his calf. We know that a little bit of exercise and a little bit of weight will make the Achilles tendon stronger, which is conducive to recovery. Durant’s changes before and after surgery may be minimal.”
When Durant met Sumner for the first time in Brooklyn during the offseason, Durant realized that the leg and calf part they had been injured were too small, which was caused by muscle atrophy. The strength is recovered, but the size cannot be guaranteed. Durant said that when he talked with other players who suffered from Achilles tendon rupture, he often felt curious about the calf part of others, so he didn’t think his role was simply to provide advice.
“I will wonder if only my injured calf will be smaller than the other one, or do others have the same question?” Durant said.
The 27-year-old sumner served as a backup guard for basketable nets throughout the season and played together with the starter several times. He showed his explosive power before the injury.
Durant said: “Sumner’s performance is phenomenal. He is an elite athlete and feels that his growth has never lagged behind. His concentration on the game is as usual. I think he is very talented and may recover from Achilles tendon tearing more easily than some of us.”
In the fall of 2020, when Clay Thompson played in Los Angeles, he suddenly fell to the ground after he had done hundreds of moves-two dry shots after fengshui ball. Clay had already suffered a tear of the left anterior cross ligament, and he would be back on the court in a few months, but now his other leg feels sharp pain.
Two years later, when Clay recalled this scene in Madison Square Garden, he patted the air fiercely, imitating the scene when he fell on the floor.
Clay soon found that his right Achilles tendon was torn, which was his second serious leg injury in many years. Then he received a call from Durant, a former warrior teammate, who was preparing to return to the game as a basketable Nets player. Durant told clay, “you’ll be fine.”
Clay said that the first few months after the achilles tendon was torn were particularly difficult, and he almost got back to the field. As a result, he was taken away from his career for another year. He wanted to know that he could have a great performance again. The 32-year-old Clay said that friends and family helped him through that period, and Durant also participated directly or indirectly.
“Seeing Durant’s performance in the best lineup, and the average score was close to 30, which gave me great confidence. If I devote myself to the recovery process, I can also find my former state.” Clay, who won the championship four times in his career and was selected as an all-star five times, said.
Like Sumner, Durant and Clay’s conversation is also aimed at each other’s calves.
“We discussed the rehabilitation process.” Durant said, “Every time I talk to clay, I ask him how is his calf? Can you stand against your toes? Only when you can press all the weight of your body on your toes and stand up can the return journey begin officially.”
It is not that clay will adopt all Durant’s suggestions, at least not immediately. At the beginning of 2020, when Clay was making the final preparations for the long-anticipated return, Durant told clay that he had experienced a long rest, how to use shooting choices to gain a foothold in the league again.
“My shots first focused on the middle distance, and then slowly started to shoot three points.” Durant told clay, “test the recovery of legs by attacking rim very early.”
In the first month of Clay’s return, the three-point shooting rate was 33%. He didn’t follow Durant’s advice and insisted on the shooting choice before the injury. In retrospect, Clay thought Durant’s suggestion was right.
Clay said: “The shooting rate of those shots is not high, so I have been adjusting the strength of my legs.”
However, Clay adopted Durant’s suggestion that leg recovery should be tested early in order to find a more comfortable landing feeling. The first game of Clay’s return was against the Knights in last January. His second goal was against the violent deduction of the two Knight defenders. Although Clay’s shooting performance was still struggling in the next few weeks, he said that he successfully landed with two injured legs after dunk, it is of great help to his psychological state.
Clay said: “The first game I came back with a violent deduction. This is what I want.”
Before the match against the Eagles on basketable nets, December 9, Durant was warming up before the match. A familiar face appeared at the entrance of the stadium, which was Wilkins. The two great players who have successfully recovered from the injury of Achilles tendon tear have taken a photo after a short chat.
Durant said of Wilkins: “Whenever you mention the news of Achilles tendon rupture in NBA, his name is always the first to be mentioned. He recovered well from the injury and was also one of the first players to recover from this injury, and his output in the game was the same as before the injury. This is definitely an incentive and gives me confidence that I can do the same thing.”
Meanwhile, more and more members of the Achilles tendon tearing club. Even some players have sought advice from Sumner. He has been closely watching the rehabilitation process of former teammate Brian Bowen recently. After Moore returns to the stadium, it means that he may be asked related questions like Sumner. Moore said that in the process of adapting to the competition again, he knew more about himself, at least he knew how things would develop.
“I have been waiting for him in NBA.” Durant said. He plans to watch a Villanova game to support him after Moore’s return. It would be better if the schedule of Villanova Wildcats could be staggered with personal agenda. Durant can always send greeting messages at the first time even if he can’t make time.
Original: Alex Schiffer
Compile: Li Taibai
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