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My name is Jalen Weber. I go to University of Texas at Dallas. I'm a mechanical engineer major, and I've been playing basketball since I was four.

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 What was your injury? What happened? When was it?

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So my first injury, I sprained my ankle really bad. Like a major sprain. And I sprained it halfway through my freshman season of high school, and I missed the rest of the season until playoffs. So I was able to play playoffs, but then the next yearI ended up hurting my ankle again, I sprained it and broke my tibia. It was eight games in. I was having a great season, I was averaging like 28 points and when I broke my tibia it was just devastating because it end up being  on the same leg I sprained last season, so I was just pretty devastated from that.

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What was your reaction immediately following the injuries? Did you think man, i'm done, this is it?

 

I was just pretty upset because back to back seasons I get hurt. And it was more upsetting because I got hurt in the same area. I got hurt in San Antonio twice. So I was just like, why is this happening to me? And at first I was just really sad, you know, I really distanced myself away from the team. Then progress later on, I just started focusing on myself. And I just started hitting the weight room really hard and I found like a new passion which was just to lift weights and I became really close to my strength and conditioning coaches and gained about 15 pounds while I was out just grinding and trying to get swole you know, but basketball wise I was just I was just in a weird place. At the time I felt like is this really what I want to do because I kept getting hurt you know, especially that season I was aiming for national recognition that year and to have your season get ended so shortly I was just like, wow this really hurts. For me it really hurt my heart , I put in so much work beforehand and to see it go up in flames. It's just like, what the heck? So it really just took a toll on me.I really became isolated from like my friends and my team. I was just really focusing on, getting back to full health, so just like not concentrating on anything else but like myself. I was just distancing myself away from everybody.

One of my friends, who actually knows reached out to me a couple of times. Matter of fact, when I first like got injured, he actually came to the hospital. And out of all my friends and teammates, you don't want to do that. So he always checked on me periodically, but everybody else would say, "what happened to Jalen?" Plus, I live 45 minutes away from everybody. So I wasn't just down a road where you could just come see me if, if you didn't see me at school, they weren't going to see me like outside of school. 

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How long did your recovery take?

 

The first one took me about three months just to get healed and obviously do rehab, it took a month for rehab. And then I started playing. The second one basically took me the whole season to recover. So I got hurt in late November so it took me from December January, February March so, all those months that it took me to rehab and stuff. So an extra month on top if that so five, six months. 

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Explain the recovery process.

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For my first one I went to my trainer and basically every day he had to massage it out to break up the scar tissue in it because it was just so swollen. And he massaged that every day and had to do the ABCs ankle therapy. Then after that, we get to a certain point where you can start working on balancing then I had to work on picking up plastic cups with my feet. Then I had to start doing more ankle flexing stuff, so like stretches and stuff. And then my second one, I was in a cast, not like a hard cast but a soft cast for a month. Then after that I got into a boot but still couldn't walk. I was on crutches for three months total. Then after that the doctor told me like "hey, you can start walking on it" so I started walking on it and when you wear a boot. When you wear a boot you start wobbling around like a little penguin. After that I had to go to the chiropractor because my hips were like so messed up, I had to get readjusted on top of doing regular rehab stuff so I'd go to like the chiropractor twice a week for month just to get realigned. Then I was doing rehab every day and I was working out on top of going to the trainer. I was working out with my track coach and me him are really good friends. So every day he'd make me do 300 calf raises. Then on top of that we'd work on form of running still because I kind of lost that because. So I did that. And on top of all those I was still lifting weights pretty heavy. I wasn't really lifting a lot of legs at the time because still getting adjusted, but I was working my way up doing leg exercises and stuff. 

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How ow was your frustration behind not being able to walk?

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Yeah, I couldn't even go upstairs to my room. Because I lived upstairs and I didn't even go in my room for three months straight. I'm the type of person like, I don't really like people helping me out. And at first, I used to go to class with my crushes and then just like crutch to class, with my heavy backpack. So I was just like, I don't really need help. So, at first I was late to class 5-10 minutes, every class, but I had excuse so, I wasn't really worried about it. Then my school started offering me like a wheelchair. So I was like, okay, that's pretty fun. So I took advantage of that. And basically, me and my friends before class would just start messing around, rolling through the hallway and stuff taking the elevator, but then I started getting to class like 15 minutes late, because I was with all my friends so I guess that was a little plus, not walking, but when I was at home I couldn't go upstairs. So that pretty sucked. And I was pretty upset because I mean, I like sleeping my bed, but I had to sleep on the couch for two months. So you could just imagine how my back was feeling.

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What was your biggest mental roadblock you encountered during your recovery?

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The biggest mental block that I had to at first was the pain because, I don't know if you ever had a sprained ankle, but for me after having two major sprains, especially the second one, it felt like I was getting stabbed in the foot. It was the most painful thing I've ever done in my life like to this day. And at first that really sucked because I had to pop a lot of pain medicine because of it. So I used to go to other high school games just to watch other top players in the city. And I remember this one time, I had to pop medicine before I went, when I got there, I just started feeling awful. It was just hurting so bad. So I had to tell my dad to, hey can I have some of the medicine and my dad, he's not really a big medicine guy. He believes if you start using medicine like this, you start getting addicted but at the time, I was just like, really in pain. And it was the type of medicine that'll make you kind of drowsy. So like I took the medicine and fell asleep a little bit during the game. But that was definitely a block of mine. Then another one was not playing the game. I mean, like I said, I was having like a great year that year by eight games and then I was averaging like 20 plus. And I really had a goal that year, that year was supposed to be like a break out year for me and I just felt like since I was I wasn't able to reach that goal, basically my career was washed. It really made me upset, I was sad. I was really angry at the same time. I worked hard during the summer. I was working out three times a day for like six to eight hours, just grinding. After school and stuff I was grinding a lot, four hours a day then practice. When we started practicing I was doing the same thing still working out running a lot then basically you working out that much, you have an expectation like you're gonna kill this year and when you're not able to perform because of the injury it just blows you away. All the goals you set are torn down. Because you created a foundation, and basically that foundation was ruined because of the injury.

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Did you set new goals?

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I set new goals. But at first basketball was like everything, but I just realized I was missing out so much. Like socially with friends and stuff. Basically, I was missing the high school dance, prom, homecoming, I was missing all of that. And I was like, do I really want to miss this again? Because, you only go to high school once. So I was just really figuring out that sports isn't everything because if you really set your life on basketball, and you just get injured, all of a sudden, what are you going to do next. And that's what I really had to focus on. Focus on things outside of basketball. So basketball wise, my goal was to still play college ball. But other than that, I didn't really care. I was just really focused on social life.

I end up transferring higher schools after the injury. And so I was still kind of close with my friends my old high school, but I gained a lot of new friends and matter of fact, I'm getting married and a couple of them are going to be my groomsmen so I don't regret those relationships at all. So I think it paid off.

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Who was your main support system during your injury? Who did you surround yourself with?

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By choice, I really didn't have anybody. Three my friends. One who came to the hospital, you know, checked up on me, but two of them are friends. I rode to high school with him every day. He obviously he was he was just there. So he helped me out a lot too. Then one of my boys from sixth grade, he helped me a lot too. Then my family, I mean, I was with them all the time. So they support me a lot.

 

Would you you say those relationships with your friends and family improved?

 

Yeah, I would definitely say friends wise, like our relationships were getting really tight. And we all ended up going to different high schools that year. It's just weird how that works, but we still remain in contact, Family wise, I mean, I got to spend a lot of time with my little brother. And we're eight years apart. So we don't really get to see each other much, especially during the school year. But I really got to spend time with him become a better bigger older brother. So I enjoyed that.

 

Was the journey to recovery harder than you than you initially thought it would be?

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No. I never expected anything like that to happen. Even though injured it the first time, I was just like, wow this is a breeze you know, I mean, but the second time I was expecting it to be the same thing, but it's just the complete opposite. It's just crazy how you can have the same injury twice, but the experiences are completely different. And I just wish I wasn't stuck up at the time thinking everything was going to be okay. I was just really depressed and down on myself and looking back on it I should never have never been down myself like I was basically. Looking back on it five years later I was just a young kid you know? I mean, there's a lot in my mind but I should have just seen it as this adversity to face and there's gonna come a time where you're going to face adversity and you just have to overcome it, you know? And it's going to be hard. When I got injured the second time, ended up getting kicked off the basketball team, and I transferred high schools, and like looking back on it, I should have, you know, I should have never transferred. I should have just stayed at the first high school and overcame the adversity that hit me, but instead I just ran away from it. And when adversity hits you in life, you just can't run away from those things. Like you're going to have to face it and go through it. So that's why I wish I never did what I did.

 

Now that you've overcome it, would you have changed anything in the process?

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Yeah I would change some things, but I don't regret anything I did. Like I created new relationships with new people and I like, love those people. So like, I don't remember anything, but at the same time looking back on it like I shouldn't laugh, like there's no really badly reason you know.

 

Does your injury affect your quality of life to this day or does it affect how you play basketball? 

 

so we did a test, like a month ago with Jamie and Coach B. It's basically like, your mobility test like ankle mobility and stuff and comes out that are I perform, I'm very I'm like, less money. Mobile and a leg I injured and my regular leg. I'm like five was like five inches less than the average you're supposed to be. So I guess yeah, I mean testing wise and I'm affected by like on a core I feel fine but I guess there are like, I don't have a lot of flexing my leg. But I've been working on it so it's gonna be all good.

 

Do you have any hesitation when you play basketball or the fear of either re injuring something or injuring something else?

 

 No. I mean, I did at first, you know, especially when we went to San Antonio cuz I heard it twice in San Antonio. So I was just like, forget San Antonio. Like, I can't begin to hurt again. But yeah, I mean, there's nothing like to this day like I don't really think about getting injured. If it happens, it happens that no, it's not in my control.

 

What is something positive that emerged from your experience?

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Yeah, I would definitely say like new relationships. And to this day, like, like reflecting on it definitely, like a new perspective about life. Like I sir, like, when you face adversity in life, you should never run away from it, you know? Because it's always going to linger and be there. And I gained, I mean, I gained a new perspective in that so. But yeah, definitely those two things.

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Do you have three tips you would give to someone watching this video right now?

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Yeah, definitely like my first tip is to never distance away yourself from like your friends, family or coaches or teammates. Because at the end of day like you play the game because you enjoy it. So why should you distance yourself away from that? And why would you ruin relationships, we're friends that Generally trying to help you. My second tip is don't run away from adversity because when life hits I versus going to hit the same time so you can't run away from life. So just face it, you know it's going to be tough, but you're going to overcome it, you know, God's army side. Tip number three is, don't be afraid to open your mouth. If something's going wrong with you, like if you are mentally drained physically train, don't be afraid to like tell somebody and reach out because like, I guarantee that anyone you talk to, they're going to try to help you so just don't be afraid open your mouth and let them know. Because there's going to be a lot of times when you're up and it can be a lot of times when you're down. So definitely stay strong do that. And when you start rehabbing and starting getting back, like you're not gonna be 100% right away, it's going to take time. So just enjoy the process. You know, don't be I know it's gonna, you're going to be anxious and eager to play, but don't rush anything because you don't want to further engineer yourself or re injure yourself. So just enjoy the process and, you know, enjoy the grind, because it's gotta be one very tough grind.