Back on the court
Leah Archibald is doing her senior project about rehabilitating a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the knee.
Just the mention of the project is enough to make the University High School honor student, student body president and basketball player crack a wry smile. But there’s a kicker.
“You have to do 15 hours of research on the project,” she laughs.
Archibald has spent the better part of two years personally researching the topic. She tore the ACL in her right knee during the summer of her sophomore year. She tore her left ACL during the summer of her junior year.
She’s spent so much time working with physical therapists that she would like to become one herself.
That, however, will come later.
Archibald currently is focused on basketball. The senior, 5-foot 9-inch post/wing has enjoyed an injury-free season with the Titans, who take a 21-2 record against Mead Friday in the Eastern 4A Regional tournament semifinals at Kennewick at 4 p.m. The winner advances to the State 4A tournament.
“Leah has been a huge part of our success,” coach Mark Stinson said. “We’d hoped that she would be healthy this year. Really, this is the first time she’s been healthy in her high school career.”
Although she’s spent two full years on the sideline, Archibald has been an integral part of the U-Hi program.
“One of the things that really helped me get through this whole process was the support I got from my teammates,” she said. “They were there for me whenever I would get down or when it felt like it wasn’t getting better.”
The key for Archibald has been making it through summer basketball unscathed.
Her first knee injury came seven games into a 60-game summer season prior to her sophomore year. The second came prior to the final big tournament of the summer season.
“I was so happy to make it though the whole season,” Archibald laughed. “We celebrated.”
Archibald celebrated further by playing soccer.
“I strapped on my knee braces and played,” she said. “I love soccer, and I missed playing. There were a lot of people saying I shouldn’t chance it if I wanted to play basketball, but I decided that I couldn’t give into the fear.”
Archibald said the running was the best thing for her. By the time the basketball season rolled around, she was ready to ditch the braces and play full-speed.
“It felt so good to take those things off,” she said. “They may protect you, but they’re always getting caught on each other and they really slow you down.”
Archibald averaged 7.9 points per game on a team whose only two losses came at the hands of Lewis and Clark – a team the Titans finally knocked off in the district title game.
The Titans lost by four points in overtime at LC in the second game of the season, and by a single point at University in early January.
“With close games like that, people like to focus on the end of the game,” Archibald said. “I don’t. I look at a lot of different points in the game where things could have gone differently.”
The difference in Game Three, she said, was intensity.
“We were finally able to match their intensity for whole game,” Archibald said. “LC has a lot of speed, and they come right after you. We did a good job handling it this time. That gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Archibald has made a point of giving her teammates confidence.
“Leah has a great sense of timing – although she does have problem getting places on time occasionally,” Stinson said. “She has a great knack for knowing when to talk to someone and when to stand back and give them some space.”
“I am doing better at getting places on time lately,” Archibald objected. “But I do like making my teammates feel included. We have some young players on this team. Over the summer our freshmen were a little unsure about how to take being around the rest of us.
“I just wanted to make sure they knew they were included in everything and could feel confident enough to speak up when they wanted to.”
To make that happen, Archibald and her upper-class teammates found a unique approach. They danced.
“And we’re not the greatest dancers,” she laughed. “We’re so bad that the new girls couldn’t possibly feel self-conscious again. They couldn’t possibly make a bigger fool out of themselves than the rest of us already have.”