Ficher shows optimism despite facing adverstiy

This archived article was written by: Jordan Weihing

Caroline Ficher was vital member of the USU Eastern women’s basketball team. Disappointment struck the team when halfway through the season, it was discovered that she had torn her meniscus and would be unable to finish out the season.
When Head Coach Dave Paur was asked about how her injury may have affected the season he said, “When we are 5-3 and then she goes down you lose probably the best three-point shooter in the league… that is going to hurt you.”
Although this was Ficher’s first season actually playing, she has been to Eastern before. Back in January 2012, Ficher came in halfway through the season, but never played in games.
This wasn’t Ficher’s first experience with a major Injury. In summer of 2012, Ficher was invited to tryout for the Brazilian Jr. National Team. On the third day of tryouts she tore her ACL. She remained In Brazil that year to have an operation on her ACL and recover.
After her recovery, she was recruited to come back to Eastern. Because of her previous exposure to the team and coaches, she fit in easily.
In December 2013, she began to feel pain in her leg again, but this time instead of her left leg where she had torn her ACL, she was feeling it in her right leg. At first it was believed that she may have just had tendinitis, but after an MRI, it proved that she had actually torn her meniscus.
Ficher was incredibly disappointed. She said, “we had 15-region games for the conference and I only played in 10.” But despite the terrible set back, she remains optimistic for the future. Her previous experience with her ACL injury has prepared her for the four-to-sixth month recovery time. She will be required to attend physical therapy sessions at Castleview Hospital three times a week as well as perform personal exercises each day.
Ficher fell in love with the game of basketball when she was 7 years old and played it ever since. The meniscus injury she is faced with right now will never keep her from getting back to the game she loves.