Papastratakos became more prone to injuries after her first ACL tear during a basketball game. She has gone through physical therapy, crutches, a brace, and can finally run on her own.

“My first injury was during a basketball game. I went to go steal the ball and I just took a step and my knee buckled and I went backwards right away. It all just snapped. I ended up tearing my ACL, MCL, Lateral Meniscus and Medial Meniscus and sprained my LCL. [The pain] was very bad; probably an eight [out of ten] at the very least. Usually after single ACL tears, people can get back up and start walking again. But I tried to get up but I just fell back down. They had to carry me off the court and I had to go to the hospital that night. I was freaking out during the game and stuff, but when I found out what actually happened, I was mad and frustrated because I knew it was a long recovery and I didn’t want to be out that long,” Papastratakos said. “I got a surgery for [my ACL tear] a month later because I had to do PT to strengthen it before my surgery. Then about two months after the surgery, I was cleared to walk. [The second time I tore my ACL,] I was at a friend’s house and I was standing on a scooter and the scooter came out from under me. When I lifted my leg up, because it was an uncontrolled flex, my kneecap shattered because the quad pulled it. For the ACL surgery they take part of your knee cap out so it was weakened from that. [Then] when my quad flexed and my knee wasn’t strong enough, it just pulled it all apart.”

Even with her setbacks after her second injury, Papastratakos enters her sophomore basketball season optimistic and enthusiastic to be playing on the court.

“I’m slowly but surely getting back to where I need to be,” Papastratakos said. “During the whole entire journey [of injuries], you’ll have a lot of mental breakdowns and you just [have to] keep pushing through and know that it will all be okay at the end.”