With the start of the 2005-06 men's basketball season looming around the corner, Peyton Stovall was getting that itchy feeling to get back on the court.
It had been a long recovery process since the star guard of the Ball State University Cardinals had injured his Anterior Cruciate Ligament six months before. The injury had ended his sophomore season and Stovall dreamed of returning to his old self, putting up 16 points per game and leading the Cards to a Mid-American Conference title.
But there was another dream Stovall couldn't get out of his head. The idea of a second injury and a lost season haunted the guard before his junior year even began.
"I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't thinking about a re-injury," Stovall said. "Every night before I went to sleep, getting myself hurt would run through my mind at least 10 times before I actually went to sleep. It was running through my mind a lot."
Before he had the chance to shake the thought from his mind, Stovall's incessant dream turned into a nightmare on Nov. 26 in Dayton, Ohio.
With his team up 20 points with a little more than a minute left in the game, Stovall fell to the ground, wincing in pain while holding his left knee. A few days later, Stovall was told his season was over and for the second time in a year he would have ACL surgery.
Just like the first time he injured the knee, Stovall had decided the best way to help him understand why it happened was to believe it happened for a reason.
With a deep Christian faith that was instilled into him since he was a child, Stovall turned to God to answer his questions.
"I think he's testing me to see how strong my faith is in him and to see if I can overcome something of this magnitude," Stovall said. "It tests you mentally, physically and right now my faith is being tested as well."
Stovall is 16 weeks into rehab for the second injury and he spends four days a week working out the knee in the weight room and on the court. His sessions usually last around an hour and are based on workouts designed by team trainer, Tony Cox.
The core difference between this year's recovery from last year's is the fact that Cox and Stovall have three more months to work on the knee before practice begins on Oct. 15. Cox said the extra length has made for less stressful workouts and an easier timetable for the guard to return to full strength.
"[Stovall] feels like he's not trying to push himself and that's made him more comfortable this time around," Cox said. "Everyday we go into it, we both feel we aren't looking at any type of date and that's what I like about this time around."
Stovall said he isn't as worried about the recovery as he was the first time through it. His parents agree. Prentice and Lorraine Stovall have supported their son everyday through two surgeries and two recoveries. Both surgeries were as hard on their son as it was on them.
"The injury was a very hard thing to swallow simply because he loves being on the basketball court," Lorraine Stovall said. "It was a tough year for all of us because we've watched him play since he was very little, and this was the first year since then that we weren't able to see him out there. It was tough for all of us."
Not only was the season difficult for the Stovall family, but after his injury the men's basketball team fell into a slump that it never recovered from. After grabbing two wins with Stovall in the lineup, Ball State lost nine of its next 11 games while adjusting without the team's leader. A disappointing 10-18 season ultimately cost six-year coach Tim Buckley his job.
Junior Skip Mills, who led the team in scoring during Stovall's absence, said the Cards couldn't overcome the rough start to the season.
"It took time for us to get adjusted without our starting point guard," Mills said. "Maurice [Acker] had to step into the guard spot without any experience and it took time for him and everyone on the team to adjust."
Acker, a true freshman who transferred from Ball State two weeks ago, ended up winning conference Freshman of the Year honors, but the team was still ousted in the first round of the MAC Tournament for the third time in four years.
Stovall looks back on the past season like it's three years removed, a distant past that shouldn't be dwelled upon. So does new coach Ronny Thompson, who will look to Stovall and Mills to turn Ball State into one of the best teams in the MAC.
"Stovall means a lot to this team and we need him out there leading the team on the court," Thompson said. "We don't want another injury for his sake and that's why I want him to take it slow and make sure everything is right."
With only one season left to play together, Mills and Stovall are looking more and more forward to turning themselves into the best backcourt tandem in the MAC. But first, Stovall must return to playing like he did his sophomore year. It's one of the several personal goals of the guard.
"To come out with the energy and enthusiasm and to not even think about being injured, that's my personal goal," Stovall said. "If I can do that and not worry about other things, then I think our team goals will work as well."
For the next six months, Stovall will be working out and rehabbing his stubborn knee, and this time he will not be thinking about re-injury. That's one mistake Stovall won't make twice.
"Now it's more of a when I lay down to sleep I think about how many shots am I gonna get up tomorrow and wondering if I worked as hard as I could have that day," Stovall said. "It's just a different situation this time."
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