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

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

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

What was your reaction immediately following the injuries like, were you like, Man, I'm done like, this is it? This is my season and

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 distant myself away from the team. Then progress like later on, I just started like focusing on myself. And I just started hitting the weight room really hard and I found like a new passion was just to lift weights and I became really close to my strength and conditioning coach. Is ideas T and I came about 15 pounds while I was out analysis, we know it's just grind and trying to get slower you know, but um, basketball wise I was just I was just gonna replace I didn't at the time I felt like is this really well what I want to do and because I keep getting hurt you know, especially that season I was aiming for like national recognition that year and to have three seasons escaped and ended so shortly I was just like, wow like it's just really hurt. Like for me it really hurt my heart like I put in so much work beforehand and to see it go up in flames. It's just like, what the heck like so it really just religious took a toll on me like I really became Came isolated from like my friends and my team. And I was just really focused on becoming. I always say becoming I was just really focusing on like, getting back to full health, so just like not concentrating on anything else but like myself. And yeah, I mean, I was just distance distancing myself away from everybody. So

people

notice,

yeah, one of my friends, he actually knows he actually, like, reached out to me a couple of times. Matter of fact, like when I injured 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 like always checked on me periodically, but like everybody else, we should Like, what happened to Jalen? And I mean, no. Plus, I live like 45 minutes away from everybody. So I wasn't just like down a row where you could just come see me if like, if you didn't see me at school, they weren't going to see me like outside of school.

Friends really was the only one that went above and beyond.

Yeah. How would you say your relationship with that friend is now

we

so after you transfer like you just kind of like fell off there. And our relationship now me I wouldn't say it's great, but it's not bad. Still good. And, you know,

how long did your recovery take for

so the first one took me about Three months just to get you and obviously like eg rehab, it took like a month for rehab. And then I started playing the second one basically, it took me the whole season to recover which was basketball seasons from like November to March. So I got hurt and like late November so it took me from December January, February March so like, all those months that I still it still took me time to like rehab and stuff. So extra month on top of that somebody's like, five, six months. So

explain the recovery process like did you have to get a surgery Do you have to or how much rehab in terms of how many hours a day how many times a week and like for your broken one for example, like what type of stuff did you have to do for it to recover like did you just have to Wait around

No, I

it's a great question. Let me remember um I had to for my first one I went to my trainer and basically told me like, he like, every day he had to like massage it out to like break up the scar tissue in it because it was just so swollen. And he like massage that every day and had to do like base the ABC switch ankle. Then like after that, we get to a certain point where you can start balancing working on balance that I had to work on like picking up plastic cups with my feet. Then I had to start doing like more ankle flank flexing stuff, so like stretches and stuff. And then my second one, I was in a cast, not like a hard cast like a soft cast for like a month. Then after that I got into like a boot by still cannot walk You know it's like in 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 like when you wear a boo I don't know if you ever wore boot but when you wear a boot you start like wobbling so it's like wobbling around like a little penguin but um I had to after that I had to go to the chiropractor because like my hips were like so messed up like almost like this like literally if I put my arms like this I was like so I like get readjusted on top of doing like regular rehab stuff so I'll go to like the chiropractor like twice a week for like a month just to get like realigned. Then I was doing rehab every day I was working out with on top of going to the trainer I was working out with my track coach me him are like really good friends. So every day who make me do like 300 calf raises. Then on top of that like working on like form of running still because like I kind of lost that because like we we have a running In like six months, you can lose some type of form. So I did that. And on top of all those I was still like 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. But yeah, those were the things.

So you said you were

not able to walk for like three months?

Yeah, I can. I can even go upstairs to my room. Because I lived upstairs and I didn't even go in my room for like three months straight. This is kind of weird.

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

I was so I'm the type of person like, I don't really like people helping me out. And at first, I used to like go to class with my crushes and then just like crush to class, my bad takoma By the way, my backpack was pretty heavy. So I was just like, I don't really need help. So like, at first I was like late to class like 510 minutes, like every class, but I got like, excuse so like, 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 take advantage of that. And basically, me and my friends like before class would just start messing around, like, rolling through the hallway and stuff taking the elevator and that was honestly like, I got I started getting to class like 15 minutes late, but all my friends I guess that was a little plus. Not walking, but when I was at home like home life, I can go upstairs. So that pretty sucked. And I was pretty upset because I mean, I like to like sleeping my bed, but I had to sleep on the couch for two months. So you could just imagine how my back was falling asleep.

Yeah.

What was your biggest mental roadblock you encountered during both of your recovery is like what did you feel caused most of your frustration? Was it the physical pain? Was it the how much rehab side? Was it? You know, constantly having to do we have was it not playing basketball? Was it not being able to exercise at all like what do you feel like was your biggest

fight the biggest mental block or block that I had to face was the pain at first, because like, I don't know if you ever had a sprained ankle, but for me like having two major sprains, especially the second one, it felt like I was getting stabbed in the foot Like an ankle, like if you touched it, it was just, it was just crazy. Like it was the most painful thing I've ever done in my life like to this day. And at first I really suck because I had to take like out of pop a lot of pain medicine because of it. So like, I used to be like, go to like high other high school games just to watch like other top players in the city. And I remember this one time, I had partners and before I went, like when I got there, I just started feeling awful. Like it was just hurting so bad. So I had to tell my dad to like, Hey, can I have some of the medicine and my dad, he's not really a big medicine guy. He believes like if you start using medicine like this, you start getting addicted but like, at the time, I was just like, really in pain. And like it was the type of medicine I'll make you kind of drowsy. So like I took the medicine like fall asleep a little bit during the game. But that was definitely like a block of mine. Then another one was, I mean, 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, you know, I mean, you shall go every year but that year was just like, that's supposed to be like to break out UU and I just felt like since I was I wasn't able to reach that goal like basically like my career was washed. No, but no. It really made me upset like, I was sad. I was really angry at the same time. Like, I'm a hard working I was putting during the summer I was working out three times a day for like six to eight hours just like grinding didn't like during the school year, like before. Last like after school and stuff I was grinding a lot I four hours a day then practice when we started practicing I was doing the same thing still working out running a lot then basically like you working out that much like you have like expectation like you're gonna kill this year and when you're able to like perform because of the injury just like blows you away like it just basically like the goals you said just tears and down. Because you like crane Foundation, you know, and basically that foundation is for me because of injury.

So,

yeah, you set new goals.

Yeah, I did. I mean,

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

Pay off in terms of, you know, wanting to spend more time

I would say so, yeah, I mean, so I trained I end up transferring higher schools after the injury. And so we're like us 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, couple of them already are like they're going to be my own. I'm getting married and are going to be my groomsmen so I don't regret like those relationships at all. So I think it paid off.

So good

support system.

you surround yourself with if you surround yourself with people,

I am

by choice, anybody have anybody you know? I mean,

Is to my friends or three my friends. One who came to the hospital, you know, checked up on me, but two of them are friends. Like one of my friends. I like roads high school with him every day. And like, obviously he was he was just there. So like, he helped me out a lot to then one of my boys from like sixth grade, he helped me a lot to they like my family. I mean, I was with to hike all the time. So they just cannot support me, you know?

What did you say about your relationship with them and you know, having to spend the time with them and

help you out and like see

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

like not playing basketball.

Yeah, get closer to my little brother.

Was the journey to recovery harder than you than you initially thought it would be like, in other words, how mentally prepared for you for the recovery? Like Did you know Did you expect how much it sucked?

No. I never expected anything that went through to happen. I go. Especially like even though I got into the first time, I was just like, why this is a breeze you know, I mean, but the second time I was expecting to be the same thing and it's just complete opposite it's just crazy how you can have the same injury like almost same injury twice, but the experiences are like completely different. And I just I just wish I was in like, stuck up by the time thinking like everything can be okay but it wasn't like I was just really depressed and down on myself and looking back on it I just shouldn't ever went I should have never been down myself like I was basically

why did I say that?

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 just saw it as this adversity just face and there's gonna come a time where you You're going to face adversity and you just have to overcome it, you know? And it's going to be hard. But just don't like can I like adding something? Okay? So during a time, I, when I got injured the second time, and no getting kicked off the basketball team, and I transfer 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, like, like the adversity that hit me, you know, but instead, like, I just ran away from it, you know. And when adversity hits you in life, you just can't run away from those things in life. Like you're going to have to face it and go through it. So that's why I wish I never do what I did.

I mean, my next question was, now that you've overcome it, would you change Anything in the process?

Okay. I

mean, yeah, I would change some things, but I don't regret anything I did. Like I say 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. So

okay, your injury is affect your quality of life to this day or does it affect like how you play basketball?

Um, 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 kind of like the fear of either re injuring something or injuring something else? Like, do you have it in the back of

your head? 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.

Okay, um

what is something positive that emerged from your experience?

something positive that emerged from my experience

your new relationships or a new perspective?

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.

Okay, last question. Do you have three tips of top

Do you have three tips for future athletes

advice you would give to someone watching this video right now?

I mean, you've kind of already mentioned like, you know, over go go through adversity even when it's like you think it's too hard to handle or yeah

yeah, I got three tips.

So do you want me like say tip one tip to tip three or? Okay. 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.

Okay, anything else you'd like to add? help them understand your story or anything, any advice

you will tell a future someone watching this

I feel like I do. Hold on give me a second okay.

Some people talked about

like after your injury like while you're recovering I guess like not 100% like be nice to yourself because are some people were upset that like they can lost their starting position because they're recovering so they like were upset with how compared to before when they were at 100% like they can't be that way anymore. Yeah, they're just

accepting that.

That's just an example you don't have to say that but like that's kind of like a closing thing that would be like

all right would definitely say like, stay strong, you know, because it's going to be mental and physical, basically, surely, right? 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. So that's all I gotta say. Yeah.

Cool. Awesome.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai