Maryland's Phipps rebounds from knee surgery at superhuman rate
When Brian Phipps tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Maryland’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game against Syracuse last May, the initial fear was that Phipps would miss a significant part of the 2010 campaign and possibly the entire season. In fact, the general rule of thumb is that it takes many athletes the better part of a year before they can return to their field of play.
But when the Terps opened the season, there was the senior manning the net. For Phipps, sitting out his senior year was never an option.
"I’ve been through it before," the Arnold native and Severn graduate said. "So I knew that it would be a long process, but that I would be OK. I kept telling myself that it was good timing that it happened in the last game of the year, so that I would have the whole offseason to get ready. It was unfortunate, but the timing worked out well so that I could be back for my senior season."
Phipps underwent surgery in the second week of June, was cleared by mid-December, and joined his teammates for the first day of practice in the third week of January.
Admitting that he had to improve his conditioning, Phipps still practiced and got some words of advice from coach Dave Cottle.
"On the second or third day of practice, I remember there was a groundball, and I went out of the crease to go get it and didn’t even think about my knee," Phipps said. "Coach said, ‘Just stay in the crease for a little bit. Don’t push it.’ But out there, I’m just 100 percent."
Comments
Big Phippin!!
Posted by: Chip | March 5, 2010 3:17 PM