“I heard a pop,” Gianna Brown said as she hobbled off the field during Christopher’s Nov. 14 Central Coast Section field hockey playoff game at Monta Vista.
The pain was excruciating, but wasn’t enough to make her leave. The ever-tough, team-first orientated Brown didn’t think it was anything serious and stayed around to cheer on her teammates. But in a span of three seconds Brown had done more damage to her leg than she ever imagined.
As she went to tackle her opponent, her cleat got stuck in the grass. When she went to turn her body away, her leg didn’t come with her. She dislocated her knee twice — the first on the initial turn and again when she attempted to walk off the field — and tore all the ligaments and tendons in her knee. She tore her ACL and an MRI later revealed she also tore her Meniscus, a common sports injury. Brown didn’t just tear it, however, she tore it half. She also chipped off a piece of her kneecap, bruised her femur and tore a side ligament.
“I did it big,” Brown laughed.
A hockey defender has to be tough and that certainly held true for Brown.
“I never saw a tear, I never heard her complain,” Cougars coach Lia Peterson said. “She didn’t want to leave. You would’ve hardly noticed she was there, but she cheered her team on from start to finish. It’s just amazing. A lot of kids, a lot of parents would’ve said ‘No, I have to go’.”
Sports injuries are nothing new for Brown. She broke her leg playing softball and developed Tendentious through basketball, but wasn’t prepared for the news at the hospital the next day.
Brown’s doctor told her that she would have to sit, leg elevated for the next two months. In short, she would not be going to school.
This was earth shattering news for the highly involved Brown. She’s the Senior Class Secretary, in Leadership and is the Commissioner of Staff Appreciation. She’s has multiple AP classes, was in the middle of applying to college — which she needed to maintain a ‘C’ average for — and finals were in two weeks. As for Winter Ball, she could kiss any hopes of attending that goodbye.
Christopher High is just a two-minute bike ride for Brown, an ever looming reminder of what she’d be missing each day.
“It went from super convenient to this huge struggle to even hear my teachers’ voices and have them explain what’s going on,” she said.
Brown, 17, sat at home wondering if this was going to derail her senior year and college plans when a friend, just updating her on what was happening at school, mentioned that Don Christopher had donated a class set of Android tablets which illuminated a lightbulb in her head.
“I told my mom, ‘Wouldn’t it be kind of funny if I could Skype the class?’ and I kind of just threw it out there like a joke,” Brown said.
The very next day Kelly Brown, Gianna’s mom, went down to Christopher High to propose the idea and discovered that the school had been given WiFi at the beginning of the year — which proved key given that access to the district’s networks was prohibited.
Gianna found an app called Google Hangouts — which is similar to Skype and FaceTime — downloaded it to her mom’s iPad and created her account
Gi****************@gm***.com
. Her AP English teacher Patrica Budd and AP Calculus teacher Lindsey Periera were more than willing to teach to tablet-Gianna, saving her senior year and college plans in the process.
“Without actually being in those classes that you need the experience of being in class, I don’t think I would’ve been able to maintain a ‘C’ or higher,” Gianna said. “I’m just really thankful that Mr. Christopher gave us (CHS) those tablets and that we have the WiFi.”
It was a learning process for both parties involved. Instead of being there to raise her hand and do in-class assignments, Gianna instead had to interject when she has something to say and read her answers aloud to her teachers. On their end, they’ve had to remember to write things in pen so Gianna can see it and touch her screen so she doesn’t lose the connection. In Calculus, Gianna has her own desk and is propped up on books to be able to see. In English, she’s positioned on Budd’s desk so she can face the class for discussions.
“It’s been hard for me to watch her be at home when she really likes school and wants to be there,” Kelly said. “She’s super, super involved. …I told her she was a pioneer. I told her ‘Listen Gi, you’re the first one doing this’.”
Gianna’s friends have been vital in the process, bringing home worksheets and practicing Spanish with her as she is also missing her AP Spanish class. Her home hospital teacher Mike Baumgartner also brings her worksheets and physics assignments so she can still be hands on when needed.
All of this helped Gianna get accepted to Cal Poly where she’ll be attending in the fall after her next surgery which will replace her ACL. While she might play on the intramural team there, she thinks she’s done with team sports.
“Sports and I aren’t friends,” she said with a laugh.
Gianna was finally able to return to school on Monday, but said she’s forever grateful that CHS had the technology to allow her to virtually attend her classes. It will take her at least a year until she’s back at 100 percent.
“I don’t wish that this happens to anyone, it’s horrible. But if it does, it’s a really good alternative,” she said.
I did it big.”
- Dislocated her knee — twice
- Tore all ligaments and tendons in her knee
- Tore her ACL
- Tore her Meniscus in half
- Chipped off a piece of her kneecap
- Bruised her femur
- Tore a side ligament
