A career-ending injury stops most players in their tracks, but for Jackie Ricketson, a fifth-year biology student and starting point guard for the women’s basketball team, a difficult challenge is a way to exceed expectations and show her ever-growing potential.
It has been a year since Ricketson tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), leaving her with unaccomplished expectations and disappointments. Although her injury prevented her from playing last season, it did not impede her ability to succeed in other ways.
Ricketson is a president and dean’s list scholar, maintaining nearly a 4.0 grade point average. While sitting on the sidelines, she obtained a minor in psychology and discovered new techniques to improve her game by gaining a coach’s perspective.
“Seeing everything happen from a coach’s view on the side, but still being a part of it at the same time, was really cool and eye-opening to me,” Ricketson said.
(COURTESY OF CPP Athletics Department)
Ricketson tore her ACL during a drill where she was dribbling down the court at full speed. She jumped and landed into a full stop, which caused intense strain on her ligament.
“It was a pretty detrimental loss at the time,” head coach Danelle Bishop said. “She’s a bulldog and she’s just going to come back at it hard.”
The Broncos’ sports performance athletics health care administrator Ruem Malasarn helped Ricketson with her injury every step of the way. He said Ricketson showed great motivation and focus to recover and get back to playing.
“Going into her final year, she knows how important this is. So she’s extremely diligent and she wants to work hard,” Malasarn said. “She’s always been a hard worker, even as an athlete. And that has carried over into her rehab and her work and her conditioning just to get herself back on the court.”
Her rehab has been anything but easy, as she wants to recover as quickly as she possibly can to begin playing again.
“There are definitely good days and bad days,” Ricketson said. “Some days my knee is like ‘Yeah, we’re getting stronger,’ and some days it’s like ‘Geez, I got to sit down.’”
Ricketson said it is difficult to be able to do simple tasks, but she tries to be as positive as she can.
It was a humbling experience for her and she learned to appreciate more of the little things most people take for granted.
“I’ve definitely had to take a step back and look at the process of how far I’ve come since the surgery day when I could barely walk, and now I’m jumping and running again,” Ricketson said.
Ricketson said it was tough not being able to help her team out last season, but she is eager to present what she learned from her journey into the new season. Her coaches and teammates are excited to see her back on the court.
“If I could think of a perfect CPP student model, Jackie would be it,” assistant coach Jennifer Judge said. “She really is brilliant.”
Ricketson’s injury should be cleared in her next doctor visit this month, but she says it is more than just physical injury.
“It’s more of a mental thing now because my trainers say I’m pretty good, but I don’t want to overdo it,” Ricketson said.
Junior guard Dominique Dotson, Ricketson’s teammate of nearly four years, said they share the same degree of physicality, competitiveness and determination, which she says showed during her recovery.
“Two days after her surgery she texted me for a ride to school and I told her, ‘You just had surgery, let’s wait a week or a couple of days’ and she said, ‘No, I’ll be fine.’ And that same day she was in the training room already doing her rehab exercises,” Dotson said. “I’ve never seen someone so determined and strong-minded to get back to something that she loves.”
Although Ricketson is anxious to get back to helping her team, she wants to come in feeling 100% ready to ensure she is bringing her best to the team.
Ricketson feels she will be at her full potential before the 2019-2020 season starts on Nov. 1.
The preseason is off to a slow start due to the training of new additions to the team and a few injured players.
However, they are all excited for the upcoming season and to watch Ricketson give it her all for her final year.
“We need her this season,” coach Bishop said. “It’s her senior year; she wants to go out with a bang and so we’re extremely excited.”
Ricketson will continue to build up the strength in her knee, strive to be a great leader for her team and continue to be a bright Cal Poly Pomona student athlete.
