Playing college sports is only a dream for most young athletes, and Kat Yelle made her dream a reality after signing to play for Ohio.
Her dreams, however, didn’t come to fruition immediately, as she suffered season-ending injuries each of her first two seasons as a Bobcat. Yelle, who is now a redshirt sophomore guard, was in the process of settling into her role as the starting point guard her freshman year, until what seemed to be a routine fast-break layup ended up not being so routine in the 11th game of the season against Oklahoma.
She had torn her anterior-cruciate ligament and meniscus in her right knee after colliding with a trailing opposing player.
After a year of recovery, Yelle was ready to return to the court for her sophomore campaign, but little did she know it would end prematurely as well. She tore her meniscus again during a preseason practice, which put her out until Christmas.
She played in just three games before tearing her right meniscus for a third time in a practice before playing Xavier. For the second straight season, her year ended early.
Unlike the time after her first knee injury, Yelle was eligible to receive a medical redshirt from the NCAA to save her a year of eligibility.
Yelle’s father had sustained the same meniscus tear while he was playing football in high school and supported his daughter through her recovery.
“He definitely helped me through it,” she said. “He was the main person out of anyone that helped me through it because he still has problems with his knee today. So, he was a big factor in my recovery.”
Yelle, a Geneva, Ill. native, suffered an injury similar to a fellow Chicagoland point guard, Derrick Rose, who has sat out the past two NBA seasons after tearing his ACL in his left knee in 2011, before tearing his right meniscus just ten games into this season.
Rose was questioned along the way for not being mentally ready to return even after being medically cleared to play by team doctors. But that issue was never a problem for Yelle, who was determined to get back to the game she loves.
“There’s really no other feeling besides pure joy to be back on the court,” she said. “More than anything just excitement.”
Yelle has returned to the court this season and has started 17 of Ohio’s 18 games. She’s proved to be the necessary distributor for coach Bob Boldon’s motion offense and is leading the team in assists and shooting percentage.
“I think Kat has worked really hard to get back to playing basketball again,” Boldon said. “She has an understanding and a respect for the game that a lot of people don’t because it was taken away from her for a time. I think she has worked incredibly hard to get back and play at a high level.”
Admittedly, the idea of never returning to the court crossed her mind, but her love for the game and getting back the high level she was at in high school prevailed over the pain and frustration of the injury.
“There was a time where (not playing again) was in the back of my mind,” Yelle said. “If it would have happened again then yeah, but I can’t really say there was a specific time when I wanted to quit.”
Her father advised her that she may not return to the same level that she was when she was first injured and if she did, it would not happen overnight.
“I think I’m getting better in each game just in certain aspects,” she said. “I’ll have my off games, but I think with each game I play more and I get more confidence and I get back to the old way of playing. I think my game is going to continue to grow as the season progresses and into the next seasons.”
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