Mercy's Elissa Krossber Wraps Up Career with Comeback Year
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Elissa Krossber |
DOBBS FERRY, N.Y. - Mercy College women's basketball player Elissa Krossber (Canandaigua, NY/Marcus Whitman) was on a roll in November of 2005. The 5-foot-9 guard was among the league's leaders in scoring, averaging 19.0 points per game, while pulling down 6.0 rebounds per game. Her early efforts helped her earn conference player of the week honors on November 21.
Then, during the Flyers' fourth game of the season on November 22, at Dominican College, Krossber went down. As she recalls, she stole the ball and was headed down court to convert a layup when she was fouled hard and hit the floor. "My first thought was that I knew my worst nightmare had just occurred," said Krossber. "I knew something very serious just happened to my knee." Following the game she went to the emergency room for x-rays.
Her mother, Linda, insisted that Krossber come home to see her primary doctor, and the Friday after Thanksgiving she was having an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) performed in Rochester, New York. Doctor Greg Cavaliere, of Hudson Valley Orthopedic Surgeons told her she had completely torn her ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), stretched and strained her LCL (Lateral Cruciate Ligament) and MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament), had distal femur bruising, and a Baker's cyst under her knee cap.
Dr. Cavaliere went over two major scenarios with Krossber. The options were to receive a donor tendon or use her own tendon to replace her ACL. "I knew after five minutes what I wanted to do. I wanted to get back playing what I loved as soon as possible," said Krossber. "I knew right there that if I repaired my ACL by using my own, I would be susceptible to tearing it again, so I chose the cadaver tendon."
She started physical therapy right away to prepare for surgery, doing exercises at home and going to a clinic six days a week with Doctor Richard Giordano, MSPT, of the Sleepy Hollow Physical Therapy Group. He showed her how to walk again and about a month later she could finally take a step, but once the surgery was done she would have to embark on a new therapy regimen. On December 19, 2006, Dr. Cavaliere performed arthroscopic surgery on Krossber's left knee.
Afterwards,
she knew she was going to be immobilized, but just wanted to know
when she would be able to play ball again. "When I heard I
was going to be out for nine months, it crushed me," said
Krossber. "But I believe everything happens for a reason and
no one should ever give up hope."
She knew it happened all the time to athletes but thought it could not have happened at a worse time for her as she was coming off a great junior year and had a solid start to her senior campaign. Instead of giving up though, she worked harder than ever, hoping to be able to red-shirt that season and play the following year. She found out the good news in June of 2006, that she was going to be able to play the 2006-07 season as a graduate student.
"Even though everything was in the air for seven months, I knew in my heart where I wanted to be and nothing was going to make me give up my dreams of playing basketball," said Krossber.
She never thought about not playing the game again. She did not want to give up on something that was such a big part of her life. Krossber knew that coming back was going to be one of the hardest things she had ever done. She has always had dreams, set goals for herself, and was not going to stop at this point. The hardest part of coming back was the pain, when she spent an average of five hours a day with her total rehabilitation. Krossber would master one exercise, only to be given another that increased the intensity of the pain, which continued for seven months until she was cleared to play again.
Throughout the 2006-07 season, whenever she put on her jersey and laced up her sneakers, whether in practice or a game situation, she did not think about getting injured again. She wore a brace to help prevent another injury and continued with her strengthening exercises. She still had some pain, but she believes in putting mind over matter and worked through it. Krossber had learned many things during the experience, such as to have faith, be positive, work hard, keep focus and things will work out.
Some of her inspirations were her goals, dreams, having positive doctors and their staffs, and her parents instilling a positive attitude.
It all paid off as Krossber played a major part in the turnaround of the Mercy's women's basketball program this year. After suffering through a pair of winless seasons, Krossber and her squad won seven games this year, the most for the program since 2000-01. Along the way, she validated her grueling rehabilitation by collecting her 1,000th career point and 500th career rebound, becoming only the 15th player in program history to reach both milestones. She finished the year averaging 13.7 points per game, good for second on the squad, and led the team in rebounding at 6.7 boards per outing. Both numbers ranked among the league leaders. To top it off, Krossber collected East Coast Conference (ECC) Co-Player of the Week honors in the final week of the regular season.
With her collegiate career now at an end, Krossber's next goal should come as no surprise - to continue playing basketball. "I'd like to try to play in Europe. If I don't get that chance, I will continue to finish my Master's degree," said Krossber. "In retrospect it was all worth it because I am playing today and learned a lot through the whole experience."
