Marina’s Trippet Makes Quick Trip Back

Jessica Trippet has an affinity for two things most basketball players would rather avoid: defense and rehabilitation from major reconstructive surgery.

Well, maybe the Marina senior isn’t actually all that thrilled with rehab. But anyone who saw her pushing herself after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament of her right knee would have thought Trippet preferred a set of leg extensions to a day at Disneyland.

From April--when Trippet injured herself during an off-season pickup game and required surgery--through August, Cybex machines and ankle weights were daily companions. As often as three hours a day, six days a week, and for good reason.

“The doctors told me it would be a minimum of nine months and probably as long as a year before I could play again,” Trippet said. “I said, ‘No way. Let’s get this over with and get back on the court.’ ”

To prove she firmly intended to return to the Marina lineup when preseason drills began in September, Trippet began therapy the same day that a piece of her patella tendon was used to reconstruct the damaged ligament. It wasn’t much--just a few gentle range-of-motion exercises--but it was a start.

In less than a week, Trippet discarded her crutches and began searching for a therapist who would tell her it was possible to come back in six months or less.

“I went to a lot of places, and everyone kept telling me nine months to a year, nine months to a year,” Trippet said. “I wanted to hear four to six months.”

Eventually, Trippet went to the ACIC Physical Therapy Center in Irvine and trainer Ken Yoshino and heard those magic words. Yoshino told Trippet that with lots of hard work and a little luck, she could return to Marina before the season started in as good or better shape than when she had earned All-Sunset League and All-Southern Section honors as a junior.

The therapy was fun--at first. Then the drudgery--and the pain--set in.

“The therapy was fast-paced and aggressive and I loved it the first couple of weeks,” Trippet said. “But then it got kind of boring and there were times when I cried when Ken worked on my knee.”

The dedication and intensity the 6-foot forward-center displays on the court was equaled by her effort in rehabilitation, and Trippet was back playing pickup games by mid-August.

“I played the day the doctor released me,” she said. “I was practically crying when I walked out of his office.”

Marina Coach Pete Bonny wasn’t surprised that Trippet was ready to join the Vikings in full-speed conditioning drills when school started in September. He had seen her develop from a semi-awkward sophomore with little basketball experience into a 15-point, nine-rebound a game standout in one season.

“Jessica is one of the best competitors I’ve ever been associated with,” Bonny said. “She competes as hard as she can all the time. I think that aspect of her personality has a lot to do with why she came back as strong as she did as fast as she did.”

Trippet’s competitiveness also makes her a top defensive player, even in practice.

“It’s hard to get a high school kid to love defense, but Jessica does,” Bonny said. “She might be the only player in the county who prefers defensive drills to offensive drills.”

In addition to a knee brace, Trippet is also showing off improved shooting range and, amazingly, a higher vertical jump this season.

Although she said that some of the colleges that were recruiting her “disappeared” after the injury, Portland State, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills are among the schools still actively interested in Trippet and her 3.8 grade-point average.

Any team that has Trippet will get a player who’s happy to be there.

“Any time something like this happens to you, you learn to appreciate things more,” Trippet said. “Going through it made me stronger physically and mentally, and now I’m just having fun.”