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The Battalion
Page 1 B • Wednesday, September 18, 2002
\chi 1 efu takes long road to Aggie leadership
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By True Brown
THE BATTALION
She knew it was bad the second she
nded.
^ne loud pop, the intense pain and
e k ili-u wouldn't straighten - A.D.
cliilefu knew something was very
Tone.
It wasn't supposed to happen this
ay, not while she was volunteering
the Texas A&M summer volleyball
Not during a practice game
tended to show the campers how to
lay. Not before her second year of
ollftgiate eligibility.
“1 e mem be i it hurting and I kind of
asped," Achilefu recalls. “I don’t
^Rmber much else besides letting
[a blood-curdling scream. It was
orrible. Everything was torn.”
‘Everything” included her anterior
ru<fiate ligament, medial collateral
gament and both meniscal tissues m
erleft knee.
Tlie injury happened when Achilefu,
ho had a 29-inch vertical jump before
he Injury, went up for a ball set by for-
ner player Jenna Moscovic.
; “1 remember crying and talking to
some of the other girls and thinking 1
was going to get kicked off the team,”
she said. “I didn’t think they would
keep a hurt player. I was so ready to go
ahead and make my mark on the pro
gram even though it would have just
been my sophomore year. There were
isogmiany things going through my
head, so many uncertainties.”
That day, July 18, 1999, was the
beginning of a long road back for
Achilefu.
Five weeks passed before A&M
orthopedic surgeon J.P. B ram hall was
able to perform surgery on her ravaged
knee, and Achilefu - who was still
enrolled in summer school - was left
wearing an assortment of knee braces.
The rehabilitation process started
quickly for her. With the help of A&M
rehabilitation specialist Danny
Kniffen, she began exercises within
days of the injury.
“I started rehabing immediately,”
Achelifu said. “I did exercises every
day for an hour.”
But like many patients who suffer
similar knee problems, rehab was tax
ing, emotionally and physically.
“I cried at least twice a week,” she
said. “It was stressful emotionally and
physically, but emotionally it was hard
er because you go in there and work
and someone tells you you're getting
better but you don’t see results for a
long time. I felt like I was just staying
the same and not getting any better.”
She continued rehab after having
surgery Aug. 1 1. After being confined
to a mechanical brace for one month.
Achilefu was faced with a daunting
task in the second month - learning
how to walk again. That meant getting
past the muscles that had deteriorated
in her left leg as well as tendonitis in
her right leg as a result of relying on it
too much.
“It’s tough because you lose your
balance a bunch,” Achilefu said. “I had
JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION
Texas A&M senior A.D. Achilefu has overcome surgery and rehabilitation to become a leader on the Aggie volleyball team this year.
become so dependent on that brace
that my (left leg) muscles had atro
phied. You lose a lot of strength, so
there were a bunch of times I would
trip and fall."
It would be five months before
Achilefu graduated from walking and
running to being able to step back on
the volleyball court.
After a few practices, tendonitis
forced her to sit out most of the spring
practices, and she was granted a med
ical redshirt, saving her eligibility for
the 1999 season.
By the time she was ready to take
the court again, her vertical jump had
shrunk to 21.5 inches, and she began
the process of re-learning how to jump
serve, how to block, how to pass and
how to hit. Along with the learning
process came fear.
“Every day I would worry that I
would hurt myself,” Achilefu said.
"There were a few times when I would
fall or land really hard, and it would be
so painful that I would have to sit out
for the rest of the practice. All it would
take would be just landing funny once
and it would all be over. Two ACL
injuries in a row, that isn’t do-able.”
However, something very impor
tant happened to her during recovery.
She began reflecting on where her pri
orities were and what everything
meant to her. Achilefu said the recov
ery and relearning process was per
haps the best thing that has ever hap
pened to her.
“It has given me a lot of character,”
Achilefu said. “I could have quit and
said this is too hard and that I didn’t
want to do it anymore because I
wouldn’t have been able to be as good
as I used to be. 1 would have been
totally wrong. It made me appreciate
volleyball a lot more, and appreciate
my coaches and my team. I’m glad I
went through that.”
Now, in 2002, her vertical jump is
See Achilefu on page 3B
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PUBLIC NOTICE
BRIEF EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF PROPOSED
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Special Election
NOVEMBER 5, 2002
Explanatory Brief for HJR 2
HJR 2 would amend the constitution to allow the commissioners court of a county to
declare the office of constable dormant if that office has been vacant for at least seven
consecutive years. The records of a constable office that is declared dormant will be
transferred to the county clerk. If the office is declared dormant, the previous office
holder does not continue to hold the office. The office may not be filled by election or
appointment unless the commissioners court votes to reinstate the office or a majority
of votes cast in an election held on the issue favor reinstatement The reinstatement
election may be held if the commissioners court on its own motion orders such an elec
tion, or the reinstatement election must be held if the commissioners court receives a
petition signed by 10% of the registered voters of the constable precinct
The proposition will appear on the ballot as follows:
“The constitutional amendment authorizing the commissioners court of a county to
declare the office of constable in a precinct to be dormant if the office has not been
filled by election or appointment for a lengthy period and providing a procedure for the
reinstatement of the office. "
Este es el informe explanatorio sobre la enmienda propuesta a la constitucidn que
aparecerd en la boleta el 5 de noviembre de 2002. Si usted no ha recibido una
copia de los informes in espanol, podrd obetener una gratis por llamar al
1/800/252/8683 o por escribir al Secretario de Estado, P.O. Box 12060 Austin
TX 78711. PUBLISHED BY SECRETARY OF STATE GWYN SHEA
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