How I Blew Out My Knee and Came Back to Win a National Championship

An essay by Jason Shen

… This story is for every anyone (athlete or not) who’s struggled with an injury – yeah it sucks big time, but do ALL your physical therapy and be unreasonably optimistic. Things can and will get better. …

On January 19th, 2007, while competing for Stanford Men’s Gymnastics at the UC Berkeley, I suffered a total knee dislocation while performing a double-twisting Yurchenko. My ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL and meniscus were instantly torn. It hurt a lot.

I underwent multiple surgeries, required the use of crutches for months and spent a couple hundred hour in physical therapy. One year later, I was back in the arena as an active competitor. In my final season, I was elected a team captain and helped lead our team to win the 2009 NCAA Team Championship – our first victory in over 14 years. …

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 is yet to come.

You might want to bookmark it as an inspirational read for anyone trying to come back from injury.

Thanks Jason.

Published by

coach Rick

Career gymnastics coach from Calgary, Canada.
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