South Haven High School’s Macey Pond has certainly been through a lot since suffering an injury to her left leg during the third basketball game of the year in 2019. A simple layup turned into months of rehab after surgery just two weeks later.
“I’ve been working on getting back on the court for about nine and half months. I got hurt on the 13th of December, I had surgery two weeks later on the 27th, and I just got released on the 9th of October. Even though I’ve been released, there is plenty of work to do until basketball season so I can be at my full potential for my team,” said Pond.
With support from her mother and the staff at APT, Pond’s recovery is near complete and she’s working hard every day to be 100 percent before the start of the season.
“From the day I got hurt until this point, she’s been so positive through everything. From getting my leg straight for the first time to getting released, my accomplishments were out victories. I’m looking forward to the day that I get to see her in the stands cheering for me again,” said Pond. “My recovery has been rough with a lot of bumps in the road. I struggled with getting my inner quad back but everyone at APT continuously supported me. Some days we would have sessions just on quad work and they were really good at finding new exercises to do so it wasn’t getting boring for me.”
Physical therapy can be difficult, but the staff at APT have worked hard to find ways to breakthrough recovery roadblocks that hindered Pond.
“I can’t even begin to explain how amazing APT was. Even through all of the bad news, I could always count on them to cheer me up. They always pushed me to my threshold. Every time I had appointments, they always greeted me with a smile and “Hey Mace” or one of my other nicknames they gave me,” said Pond. “I push through tough times for my teammates, family and younger kids that look up to me. I continue to push myself to prove that I’m able to do anything and that I’ll be able to achieve my goals in the future.”
The support Pond has received from friends, family and teammates has meant the world to her. Returning to the court will be the payoff for all of the hard work and support she’s received.
“I come from a small and very supportive community, so my teammates are more like family to me. I’ll never be able to thank them enough for the love and support the last 10 months,” said Pond.
