Teams try to get jump on trend of ACL injuries in young female athletes

Story was a national Top-10 APSE selection for Explanatory Reporting in the Under 30,000 Circulation Division.

By Ryan Moses
Published Jan. 23, 2010 in the Santa Cruz Sentinel
Alex Price's story has become all too common in girls sports.
The Scotts Valley High senior entered this basketball season as a league MVP contender. A 5-foot-10 guard, Price was one of the most dangerous offensive players in the county last season, when she slashed and shot her way to a county-high 18.4 points per game. She was selected first team all-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and was considering taking her game to the college level after being contacted by several NCAA Division III schools.
Price started off strong with 21 points in the Falcons' season-opener against San Jose High Academy and 25 points against Stevenson to lead her team to wins in both games.
But in the third quarter of Scotts Valley's third game against North Salinas, disaster struck. Price went up for an uncontested layup, like she had done thousands of times since she starting playing basketball in the third grade. This time, though, she crumpled to the hardwood when she landed.
"I felt like I came down with my leg locked," Price said. "I heard and felt a pop, and it really hurt. I think I blacked out."
That pop was the infamous sound of the anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] rupturing in Price's right knee. It's a sound that signals a players' season is over.
An alarming number of young female athletes have experienced that pop. Now some Santa Cruz County teams are taking measures to stop the pop and keep female athletes on their feet.