The first MRI missed what was now a pretty clear ruptured Achilles. In the world of professional basketball, this is not a career-ending injury, If you don’t continue training and competing on it, that is! Which is exactly what I had been doing.
 
As an athlete you get used to it. A ruptured tendon here, an Achilles there. These injuries become normal. We learn to trust the process and follow the doctor’s orders to the letter: surgery, rest, rehab, exercises, discipline and focus and you get to return even stronger! In the world of sports self-care is not an indulgence, it’s a discipline.
 
Soon after I was offered a great contract with a high-calibre team and saw it as my chance to prove I could still compete at the highest level. And I did. My team went 9-0 to start the season. My confidence was back - I was back.
 
An away game in Switzerland took it all back.
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I went to jump.
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Nothing happened. My body didn’t respond. I collapsed. Before the tests, before the doctors, before the flight back to France—I knew. It had torn it again.
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The second rupture hit me harder than the first. Especially for having done everything right. But I couldn’t waste time asking “Why me?”. I had a choice to make and make it pretty fast if I did not want this injury to define my life and my career. 
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If I was going to come back, I was going to take control of every factor within my power. I became relentless about my recovery—nutrition, sleep, rehab, mindset. If the doctor said two hours on my foot, I followed it to the minute. But I also knew my body wasn’t the only thing that needed healing. My mind did too.

Fear is a powerful thing on the court. The thought of another rupture, the self-doubt creeping in meant I would never play freely again. I immediately started working with a mental performance coach to train my mind the same way I had trained my body for years.
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That decision changed everything.
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I stepped back on the court, not just physically healed, but mentally stronger than ever! 
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I am sure this choice was what allowed me to play for 6 more years at the highest level, retiring on my own terms - not because of injury - at what I feel was at the height of my career! 
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Today I share my story to help other athletes and individuals to make that choice for themselves. We all have bad days, we have fears, and injuries. We all face a choice as to whether they shape our story or if we do. 
 
Kalis Loyd

P.S. We can break barriers together! Everything great is on the other side