Everybody has a story: Brianna Johnson

Editor note: This is a series of stories that will spotlight Maize students chosen at random. The idea comes from reporter Steve Hartman’s series formerly broadcast on CBS News. 

The clock was ticking down in the first quarter, shoes were squeaking on the gym floor and the ball had just been tipped out of graduate Daley Handy’s hands. Excitement and adrenaline was coursing through junior Brianna Johnson as she reacted too quickly to get to the ball.

“My leg was already planted and I tried to turn around to go get the ball and my body turned, but my legs didn’t,” Johnson said. “So then I got the ball, tried to dribble and I just fell.”

Johnson had torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) for the second time in two years playing basketball.

“When it happened I was just like ‘No, no, no, not again,’” Johnson said. “When I got to the training room he [Chris Cannizzo] did the … ACL test and he said ‘I think she tore it again,’ then I just started crying.”

Johnson had also torn her right ACL the year before while playing basketball.

“My right one was probably the cause of my left one because it wasn’t straight when I came back to play last year,” Johnson said.

Since Johnson has torn her ACL in both the left and right knee, she has decided to sit this year out to prepare herself for her club team this summer.

“I’m not going to play this year… So I am just going to recover,” Johnson said. “I will still go to their games and stuff, I am just not going to be a manager or play.”