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South’s Hays talks ACL tear

A pop … But no pain.

This was the signal to Parkersburg South’s Savannah Hays she had just torn her anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during a basketball event with Parkersburg South in Columbus this past September.

“I drove baseline and the girl from the help-side slid to cover me and I just fell,” recalls Hays. “It didn’t hurt at all and I stayed in the game but the next play I ended up coming out.

“Everytime I stood up and took a step my leg would give in.”

Her worst fears were confirmed after an MRI at the offices of Dr. Stephan Hanna the next morning. Hays, officially, had torn her ACL and was set to miss basketball action for at least a year to recover.

“Honestly, I felt like I let my team down a lot,” said Hays, when asked about her first thoughts on hearing the diagnosis. “I felt like they would be looking to me a lot this year. But things happen and you just have to go with it.

“They have been really supportive of me this year and have helped me through it.”

Surgery to repair the tear was set for January. However, the PSHS junior didn’t sit around and wallow in grief. Instead, she began prehabilitation to prepare her body to recover faster from the surgery.

“I worked out probably harder than I ever have in my life,” said Hays. “I worked out with Joe Leaman and he really helped me get my leg stronger and it really helped. My doctors in Cincinnati were impressed with that.”

Finally, the day of surgery came and Hays went under the knife. The operation was a success and Hays began rehab the very next day.

“I stayed in Cincinnati,” said Hays when asked about the rehab. “I had my very first PT appointment the morning after and the pain of putting weight on my leg again was probably a ten on the pain skill.”

The physical therapy covered everything from just bending her knee to learning to walk again. Hays had to learn to trust her body again because the new ligament in her leg had no muscle memory yet when utilizing it for a step.

“I remember my trainers taking of my brace and cleaning my wounds,” said Hays. “Then they tried to bend my knee and I just remember sitting there screaming … It hurt so bad.”

Fast forward two months and while Hays is a long way from completing her rehab … She has progressed far enough to resume basic basketball activities.

Jumping and zig zagging are no goes at the moment. Yet, Hays can still shoot from a stationary position and perform ballhandling drills.

The junior also has taken on new responsibilities on the Patriots bench this year as a mentor for the young players. Though it was hard at first, she has settled into it nicely.

She helps provide head coach Ed Davis with a players perspective from the bench.

Although Savannah was the primary Hays family member affected by the injury, sister Sierra, also a member of the team, has been impacted as well.

For the younger Hays sister, it has been more of a support role to Savannah.

“I have fixed her ice machine and massaged her knee a lot,” said Sierra. “We have grown a lot closer and especially those first few weeks if she needed someone to help her I was always there for her. If she ever needed anything I would be there for her.

“There were actually times I slept on the living room floor for her so if she needed something during the night she could wake me up and I would be there for her.”

In addition to helping Savannah, Sierra also has dibs on taking her sister on one-on-one when her sibling returns to full strength.

Contact Joe Albright at jalbright@newsandsentinel.com

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