One of the hardest things an athlete will experience in their career is injury. There’s the physical pain that comes with getting hurt and there’s the emptiness that’s felt when you have to watch your teammates and friends play the sport you love without you.

Last June, White Knoll point guard Sidney White tore her ACL and her MCL on a seemingly routine play and it ended up costing her the entire 2022-2023 basketball season.

White was expected to play a key role as a freshman, a task that most freshmen don’t get asked of them. But after playing up as an eighth grader the previous year, she earned the trust of coach Coretta Ferguson. She was slated to be the starting point guard and primary ball handler. After the injury, the White Knoll Timberwolves had to take the floor without her and struggled to gain any traction as they finished the regular season with a 4-24 record.

“Throughout the season, it was hard watching my team struggle,” White said.

While watching her team struggle, White couldn’t practice skills like ball handling and shooting, instead she had to mainly focus on getting strength back in her knee just to get back on the court. The experience of missing a whole season and rehabbing was one thing physically, but the biggest hurdle was getting back to who she was from a mental standpoint.

“I had to do a lot of strength and weightlifting and a lot of stuff my trainers and I went to Prisma and other than that it was all mental, really,” White said. “It was hard being out for a year but at the same time it was all mental. I had to know that I could do this with my knee and that I could trust myself because my knee was getting stronger but mentally, I felt like I couldn’t do it. But once I stepped on the court it felt natural.”

It was a long process, but starting in June of 2023, White was back on the court. The ramp up process wasn’t going to be easy on her either. After a handful of practices, White Knoll kicked off their summer slate which included a two-week stretch of playing 18 games. The level of exhaustion became more evident in their final game at the SC Live Team Camp in Rock Hill, where turnovers and fatigue plagued them in a loss to Berkeley. But overall, Ferguson is encouraged by what she sees from White as a point guard and believes that she can be back to being the focal point of the Timberwolves’ offense in the 2023-2024 season.

“She’s gonna really be a great asset to the program,” Ferguson said. “She’s a strong leader and getting back into the game is going to be a challenge but as she grows this season with her team, she’s gonna be a great facilitator. She has an awesome shot and she gets the girls where they need to be. And she’s young, we’re a young team, so we’re gonna grow together and get the bumps out of the way. A motivator is what she can be and what she always has been so I’m looking forward to her being a great asset to the program.”

So far in her return to the court with her team, her presence has already allowed her teammates to play within their own comfort zone.

“Without a point guard last year, they have adapted really well so they’re loving it,” Ferguson added. “They don’t have to be the total ball handler. It frees them up to do their part, their job. But more importantly, getting them where they should be is what she does. So with her coming back, the team is enjoying that and we really have a true point guard.”

Along with her ability as a player, Ferguson thinks that White will bounce back from this injury because of her love of the game and how hard she works to get to where she needs to be.

“She’s willing to take on challenges, that’s one thing. She doesn’t get frustrated. And truly, this is her home. She lives in the gym. She’ll call me up and say ‘Coach where are you?’ and I’m like ‘I’m home,’ as she’s trying to get into the gym. Or if I say that I’m at the gym, she’ll say ‘I’m coming,’. So she’s a gym rat and that’s her home and that’s what’s gonna make her better.”