A tough road to recovery

Anterior crucial ligament injuries are conventionally viewed as a career-altering incident. Two ACL tears are as close to career-ending as it gets.

But on Sept. 6, Chris Pezzetta made his return to the endzone, his first touchdown since the 2011 Vanier Cup. It was just his second game since hoisting the national championship trophy, after suffering an anterior crucial ligament tear in the second day of 2012 training camp and tearing the same ligament in testing before the 2013 season.

The first injury did not come as a result of a pile-up or huge hit.

“It was a simple run play, something I do a hundred times at practice, thousands of times a year,” said Pezzetta. “My foot got stuck in the ground and my body didn’t go with me.”

And so the rehab began. Coming back from a severe tear of one of the main knee ligaments is physically and mentally taxing.

Pezzetta had surgery two months after the tear but also suffered another setback, re-injuring the knee about five to six months after the initial injury. Recovering leg strength started as soon as possible.

“It starts off slow, just getting your range of motion back,” said Pezzetta of the long rehabilitation process. “Our head physiotherapist, Chris Puskas, has been guiding me the whole way.”

“At the beginning, it’s more simple stretching and simple exercises. You’re slowly progressing back into getting your muscles going, but once you get six, seven months into the rehab, you’re getting back to regular lifts. I was doing team lifts and teams runs.”

The injury was in his rear-view mirror, and Pezzetta looked like he would be back to help McMaster in the 2013 season, when the team would start a new era without Hec Creighton-winning quarterback Kyle Quinlan.

But during a testing session in the early stages of training camp, Pezzetta did a vertical jump and heard a pop. The ACL was torn again – the same ACL, on another non-contact play.

Pezzetta seemed cursed, but began the rehab routine again. Puskas – who head coach Stefan Ptaszek called “the best in the country” after the open- ing game against Guelph – was there to help him.

“It was through [Puskas’s] guidance that I was able to come through,” said Pezzetta. “The facilities we have here at Mac allow him to do what he wants to do. Everything I needed and he needed was here for me to use.”

While nursing the injury, the running back would sit in a coaching booth of the Ron Joyce Stadium press box, watching his team play. In his first season on the mend, Mac went undefeated until the Vanier Cup, where they lost to Laval.

During the second, McMaster struggled out of the gate and finished 5-3 before losing the OUA semifinals to Western. While it was tough to not be able to contribute on the field, Pezzetta gained perspective that go beyond the sport.

“I don’t think you learn so much about football,” said Pezzetta. “I think you learn different things about life.

“You can’t take things like sport for granted. When you’re injury-free for a while, you expect to be able to be out there and playing with the guys. You get a different perspective to see how fortunate you are to be playing.”

Recovering from severe injuries is physically taxing for an athlete, but the mental toll lingers long after the pain is gone. When asked about if he still thinks about the knee when he’s out there, Pezzetta paused for a while before answering.

“It’s tough,” said he. “Every play you run, every practice you go through, every snap you take, you think about it less and less. After the first two weeks of training camp, after I got more confidence, both physically and mentally, it made it easier to get over thinking about [the injury].”

Now, Pezzetta joins a running back corps that features a variety of players taking snaps at the position.

Wayne Moore is still getting the majority of snaps and since he’s produced a country-leading six touchdowns, it looks like he will continue to get the ball.

But the return of the 2011 Vanier Cup winning running back gives the team another option, as well as an emotional lift.

Getting the majority of snaps is at the top of mind for Pezzetta. He is happy just to be back in the Maroon and Grey, helping his team towards another OUA playoff run.