Nov. 30, 2011

OXFORD, Miss. – For most athletes, coming back from ACL surgery once is physically and mentally demanding enough, but twice?

Freshman guard Gracie Frizzell, who tore her ACL last December and again this summer, is staying positive during her recovery and working hard during her rehab. 

“Knowing I have to sit out this year is hard but circumstances don’t define who you are,” Frizzell said.  “The hardest part for me was that I worked so hard coming back but I’m going at this with the same mindset again and I’m going to attack this recovery like I did the first time.  I’m going to come back stronger than before.”

Frizzell, a 5-9 guard from Little Rock, Ark., started playing basketball in the seventh grade and has her brother to thank for getting her into the sport.

“When I was a little girl that played in the yard, I played football with my brother and he was really my main influence and he really got me started in basketball.  We started playing one-on-one and I thought maybe I should start working on this and this is something I could be good at.”

Frizzell loves playing for head coach Renee Ladner and, like many of her teammates, view Ladner like a mom. 

“I consider her my mom here,” she said.  “She loves you so much off the court and she’s going to dig at you on the court but I love that about her. I came down here for my unofficial visit and I loved it and I when I came down here for my official visit I had already committed.  When I was choosing a school, I wanted to choose a school that if basketball didn’t work that I’d still wanted to go to school there.”

As for life after basketball, Frizzell , wants to major in exercise science and physical therapy. 

“I want to have an occupation where I put others before myself,” she said.  “I want to see people get better and progress and help them.  I have a passion for that.  I would love to be able to work with athletes.  Rehab is a hard thing for an athlete to go through, so I’d understand the mental part of it if I was working with athletes.”