Don't call it a comeback

You never think it will happen to you.

Alicia Jack. The natural talent, the quick learner, the 6’3 “brickhouse” at the net. The happy-go-lucky jokester with the easy smile and the knack for getting a laugh from her teammates. A fourth-year veteran. A starting middle on the McMaster women’s volleyball team. Until she wasn’t.

“When you get recruited, you think of the positive things”, said Jack. “The wins, the championships, the teammates you will meet. You never think of the losses, the injuries, [or] the setbacks.”

The first set – An unlikely rise

Alicia Jack wasn’t always skilled. Talented perhaps, but a lanky grade 11 student without volleyball experience. She did not find her way onto a local club team until she was 16, a whole decade after the volleyball elite typically start lacing up their shoes.

“I wasn’t a star by any means,” said Jack. “Queen’s was my top choice for university… I didn’t know volleyball at all. To this day I don’t know for sure but I think [my assistant coach] was the bird in Tim’s ear saying ‘I have this grade 12 and she isn’t very good at volleyball but you might be able to teach her a thing or two.”

Whatever he did say was just enough, and when Jack’s time in high school was up, the Marauders came calling. The local recruit would follow her assistant coach to Mac as the first ever player from her club to play for a varsity team.

When she arrived was a different story. Despite her size, some of Jack’s teammates had played in the Ontario University Athletics league for twice as long as she had been involved in the sport at all. Volleyball is a tactical game, and learning the nuances in strategy can take to years to master, time Jack did not have if she ever wanted to see the court.

“I remember my coach telling me I had to float serve, and I had no idea what that was,” said Jack. “I would just throw it up and try to get it over the net… I had a long way to go.”

Her learning curve was steep, but Jack worked through it. She trained relentlessly, learning the system under an experienced head coach in Tim Louks, who was intent on realizing her full potential. She improved consistently, and after an especially intense summer of third-year workouts, she was named a starter in her fourth season.

But six games into that season, almost one year ago, that everything changed.

The second set – The turning point 

Nov. 20, 2015: The Mac women faced off with their OUA rivals the Western Mustangs in Burridge gym. Three sets in and the Marauders had stolen two tight wins from the Mustangs, with Jack posting four kills and two blocks on the night.

Mid-rally a tight ball pulled her to the net, the same place she had made her name since arriving at Mac. She jumped, she reached, and landed. But this time was different. Jack landed off balance on a twisted knee.

“I was lying on the ground rolling… and I remember the gym went pin-drop quiet,” said Jack. “That was the moment I knew something was wrong, I knew my season was done.”

Early tests were negative, but three weeks later an MRI revealed she had torn her ACL. She would need to undergo surgery to repair it, and any activity before then risked further damaging her knee.

“When I got that call... it was devastating,” said Jack. “I remember thinking, ‘I am never going to play again’.”

The third set – The long road back 

By current guidelines, Jack would need a nine-month recovery at best. And with the earliest available date for surgery not until March, she might not be cleared to play until January of 2017. It would take something special to get Jack back on the court.

That is when things started started to shift. Pieces fell into place and a chance cancellation meant she could undergo surgery on Jan. 25, two months ahead of schedule. She would still have to go under the knife for the first time in her career and complete half a year of rehab, but she would not do it alone.

Two weeks after Alicia Jack, rugby player and reigning Canadian Interuniversity Sports player of the year Cindy Nelles sustained the same injury. She had captained the women’s rugby team to their first ever CIS title just months earlier and would go on to be named McMaster’s female athlete of the year.

Two weeks after Nelles, basketball star and national Cadette team member Vanessa Pickard tore her ACL in a game against Queen’s following a stunning victory in the Ryerson tournament a week earlier.

I was laying on the ground rolling... and I remember the gym went pin-drop quiet. That was the moment I knew something was wrong, I knew my season was done.
Alicia Jack
Middle blocker, McMaster women's volleyball team

Despite anchoring their teams and playing at the forefront of McMaster athletics, the three Marauders had never met. But chance timing and a stroke of luck meant injury would bring these three athletes together as teammates, fighting to return to their respective sports. And Jack was leading the pack.

“There are very few people I have ever met who work as hard as Jack,” said Pickard. “Throughout her entire rehab, she fully committed to the process and her determination to get back on the court has been inspirational. Her ability to motivate others has helped me more than I can put into words… There have been so many times where she has helped me refocus and reenergize after setbacks and I don’t think I could ever repay her for that.”

Yet the challenge of rehabbing would be unlike anything Jack had ever faced. Grueling, painful and notoriously slow, athletes across disciplines will testify to just how difficult the year the following surgery can be.

“As an athlete I play rugby,” said Nelles. “I’ve broken my hand, had surgery, sprained ankles and all the rest… It is nothing compared to an ACL rehab. Just to to see that commitment [from her] alone… volleyball players don’t typically see this type of long-term injury. For her to face that battle and not know everything she was getting into, it just shows her incredible mental strength… I am lucky to have Alicia Jack as a friend.”

Impressive or not, rehab was never easy. A self-described “perfectionist,” for the first time Jack was bound to the restrictions set for her by others, and surpassing limits could have serious consequences on her playing career.

“I kept thinking ‘I should be at this point, why aren’t I doing this,” said Jack. “They had to pull me back. I realized that I couldn’t celebrate perfection, I had to celebrate progress instead.”

Three days after her surgery, Jack was already bending her knee. By day four she had dropped her pain meds and by day 15 she had dropped her crutches as well and was walking without support. Two weeks later she was doing quarter squats and exercising on a stationary bike. Seven weeks in, she was in the pool, and by June, she went for her first run.

“We had a joke that she had a fake ‘placebo’ surgery,” said Nelles. “That they just put her unconscious and then said ‘oh yeah you’re all better’ without doing anything because she was always so far ahead of us. She was like our ‘rehab goals.”

With physical progress came a new mindset that would push Jack to the finish line of her recovery.

“I think I have taken for granted standing on the bench some days… you take for granted what you have, most people do. You always want something more,” said Jack. “If you are on the bench, then you want to be playing. But when you are on the sideline, you just want to be able to stand with [your team]… I was determined to do whatever it took to get back.”

For the next eight months, Jack spent two hours a day in the gym and four hours a week in physiotherapy. By July she was already matching weights with teammates. She was even in a hot yoga class before she had full range of motion, just trying to get that extra edge she needed. But come November, she had reached her goal. Alicia Jack was cleared to compete again.

The fourth set – The next chapter 

Nov. 11, 2016: The women’s volleyball team travelled north to Lakehead for a double header. For the first time in over a year, Alicia dressed for the game. She wouldn’t be on the roster, but she would be back with her team on the bench.

“It was the highlight of my weekend,” said Jack. “Just putting the sneakers on was a huge ordeal for me, just having them back on and putting that jersey back on… it was a pretty emotional experience.”

They won that game handily in four sets to move to a perfect 4-0 record. The next day was a similar story, with Mac leading 23-14 in the second and about to close the set. That’s when Jack was handed the substation paddle. She was going into the game.

“I didn’t think I was even going to get into the game, [so when I did] my teammates said they have never seen me get so serious in my life,” said Jack. “I ended up going into the match for two points. I never touched the ball, but I have never had those emotions flying. I was nervous, I was ecstatic… I took Jill Eisenhauer out and she said I looked like I was going to cry.”

If you are on the bench, then you want to be playing. But when you are on the sideline, you just want to be able to stand with [your team].
Alicia Jack
Middle blocker, McMaster women's volleyball team

Since Lakehead, Alicia has played in two more games, including her first return to Burridge gym against Brock. Still getting back into the swing of playing, the steady stream of improvement won’t be stopping anytime soon, but for her it is simply having the opportunity that really matters.

“It is possible now, for me to go into a game,” said Jack. “I am back, I am officially able to play. It is just a matter of how I perform to get back on the court… but I am definitely not finished.”

The fifth set – Don’t call it a comeback 

You might say that Alicia Jack came out of nowhere. That if you blinked once, you might miss her rise to stardom, or her stunning return to OUA volleyball. But pull back the curtain and you realize she has been here for years.

Quietly grinding in a high school gym to work her way onto a varsity squad. Studying the game until she became a starter who could read a hitter before their coach even gave the call. Fighting through the pain while a physiotherapist forced her knee back into a locked position.

Putting it all behind her to get back on the court

“It has motived me more,” said Jack. “I push myself more and harder and then I ever thought I could, mentally and physically. I am a better athlete, and a better person because of it.”

With that drive comes a newfound appreciation for the game.

“Putting on that jersey again I realized that each time you step on that court could be your last. Every game I play now; I know I want to give it my all. I never want to have any regrets.”

Alicia Jack. The compassionate leader, the rehab placebo, the friend. The longtime player with the instincts to beat you at the net and the bravery to overcome the experiences she has had there. A fifth-year veteran.

A middle blocker on the McMaster women’s volleyball team.