Re-unleashing Weapon Y: Yutien Andrada
By Miguel Martin D. Sarmenta
Yutien Andrada is back. His knee’s as good as new, his muscles are stronger than ever, his game is more confident than before. And to top it all off, his smile is even wider than his wingspan.
April 26, 2014. Guess who’s back
He had stepped onto the court for games bigger than this. This was, for all practical purposes, just a tune-up, a preseason affair. He was no rookie either. He’s had his share of epic encounters. Yet, there were butterflies in his gut and his excitement was electric.
When the final buzzer sounded, he had accumulated 19 minutes of playing time. Four points. Six rebounds, four of which were offensive. He had protected the lane, altered shots and made opponents think twice about slashing.
Yet, perhaps even more important than his stats (which he himself didn’t even remember afterwards), his presence in the shaded area, how he helped the team win, or the fact that he started the game, was how he felt. Both literally and figuratively.
Physically, he felt like his engine was humming beautifully. He felt no pain in his right knee. Whenever he landed from a block attempt or rebound, it didn’t buckle. Whenever he sprinted, it was stable. His knee never stole his game or his confidence. Deeper than that, though, he felt a happiness that was probably bigger than his 6’5” frame.
With the way Yutien Andrada moved and played in that FilOil preseason game, anyone watching might not have guessed or thought that just a year ago, he had torn the ACL in his right knee.
Actually, Yutien himself wasn’t thinking of the injury either. “Hindi ko iniisip na na-injure ako,” he said. He was just so excited during his first official game back that he felt like a kid playing basketball for the first time.
May 10, 2013. POP goes the knee
Flashback. Sound effects. Camera dissolve.
Yutien still remembers how it happened. It wasn’t a dark and stormy night. He doesn’t remember anything ominous like crows (or eagles if you’re a DLSU fan) or stray black cats crossing his path that day. It was a regular preseason game.
Green Archers’ possession. Opponent stole the ball. Fast break. Yutien dutifully sprinted back on defense with all the speed he could muster. He was catching up on the man with the ball. In a split-second that blended athletic instinct and defensive desperation, Yutien figured he could even do a chase-down block if he just timed it right.
So he leapt.
He missed.
No block.
No foul.
He landed.
Pop.
Yutien Andrada landed awkwardly with his full force, his full weight, and the full momentum of his sprint and leap, on his right leg.
As he landed, he heard that infamous popping sound. As soon as he heard it, and as soon as he felt the pain that came with it, he had a feeling he knew what it was. He prayed he was wrong; the MRI revealed that he wasn’t.
He had torn his right knee’s ACL. Again.
ACL. Three letters that change careers
For those who’ve been hearing those three letters frequently during coverage of the NBA, PBA and UAAP, and have been meaning to ask, for those who (for some reason) want to empathize fully with their favorite player, or for those just looking for additional water cooler and social media fodder, here’s the lowdown on ACLs.
It won’t just help you understand what Yutien went through, but it can even give you a more complete view of what your hardcourt heroes face. Who knows? It might also help you be more careful with your knees.
First off, ACL means Anterior Cruciate Ligament.
Ligaments connect bones and help stabilize their movement. The ACL connects your thigh bone and your shin bone, thereby stabilizing your knee joint.
Dr. Jose Canlas, Yutien’s doctor (also the doctor of several other basketball players who have him to thank for their saved knees and saved careers), an Ateneo Sports Hall of Fame Special Awardee and the country’s leading name in sports-related injuries, explains further:
First, the ACL is one of four major ligaments that stabilize the knee. Second, it is special from the other ligaments because it is located inside the joint and has very poor blood supply. Thus, it can not heal itself. Once ruptured, this makes the knee unstable.
And when the knee goes, other structures in the knee and those that the knee support may also give way, accelerating degeneration.
(If you’re a more visual kind of learner, here’s an image from mayoclinic.org that might help you visualize what the ACL looks like and what happens when it’s torn)
Being a basketball-holic nation doesn’t help, either. “Pivoting sports are the most common activities that cause ACL ruptures,” Dr. Canlas adds. “Because basketball is the most common sport locally, we see a lot of basketball-related ACL injuries.”
Re-torn and return
What athletes like Yutien Andrada need Dr. Canlas and his team to do is nothing short of magic. Remember, they don’t just need the knee to be able to walk again. They need the knee to be at performance level again. If you’ve watched any UAAP game, you know what that level is.
Yet, magic exists. You can make a list of those whose ACLs have been torn, re-torn and have now returned to the game. The Hall of Pain includes some famous names like David West, Baron Davis, Ricky Rubio, Larry Fonacier, Mike Cortez, and Derrick Rose (I know, we’re waiting for #re-return for this one). Yutien Andrada can now be added to this list.
This is possible because over the years, surgical techniques and treatments for ACL injuries have made amazing strides. Before, it was thought of as a career-ending injury. Now, athletes can tear their ACL, have it reconstructed, undergo rehabilitation, and in as soon as six months, play as though their knees were brand new. They can even be better than before.
Dr. Canlas also shares that “in fact, one of the oldest players still active in the PBA… had ACL reconstruction in 1996. Since then, techniques have evolved so that we have smaller scars, less surgical time…and much less pain from the surgery.”
Yutien, is a (very grateful) beneficiary of these advancements. Despite this injury already being a re-tear, he can still look forward to a playing career that can be even better – something unthinkable just a few decades ago.
Now while the ACL injury is no longer career-ending, its treatment, rest and rehab time still make it season-ending, especially for the players of the UAAP, where the season is just around three months long.
For Yutien Andrada though, back in that summer of 2013, his upcoming season was over before it had even started.
Archer down
Newspapers and websites carried the Andrada injury story. Pundits weighed in on La Salle’s chances in the coming season. Sure, Arnold Van Opstal and Norbert Torres were still there to man the frontline, but what would Yutien’s absence do to the rotation?
Boom Gonzalez, anchorman for ABS-CBN’s UAAP coverage, and someone who’s been covering Andrada throughout his college career, had this to say about his contributions to the Archers:
“I think Yutien’s value is not measured [just] by stats. He’s never been a stats stuffer kind of a big anyway. It’s his length, his lateral movement, his ability to switch on smaller, quicker guys and his knack for getting 50-50 balls are what he brings to the table. Yes, he can block. but he’s more effective as a help defender or blindside defender than he is a straight-up post defender. His timing and on-court sense is great. He’s a big who can run, too. Whether it’s for offense or defense. And I think his biggest weapon is the fact that he is easily underestimated by other players. And he seems fearless and unmindful of his own physical disadvantages. He makes up for it.”
La Salle lost all those Andrada benefits before the season even began.
Gonzalez wasn’t really worried for the Archers though, because he felt their front line was still fearsome. However, for someone who’s seen his share of UAAP players sit out seasons due to injuries, he felt bad for Yutien. “I never like hearing about injuries to students. No matter the school or player. The UAAP breezes by so fast before you know it, players graduate already. I like seeing players play out their collegiate careers fully…”
A healed Andrada scores on a reverse in last week’s game against Ateneo
Still a teammate
Even though Yutien couldn’t play that season, he was still a part of the team. Not just “in spirit.”
New head coach Juno Sauler asked Yutien to do statistician duties on the sidelines. This responsibility was just as psychological as it was symbolic. Yutien said, “Dahil du’n naging part pa rin ako ng team.”
His teammates also never failed to encourage Yutien. He was especially closest to Almond Vosotros, Arnold Van Opstal and Luigi dela Paz. They would always encourage Yutien personally or through text messages.
With Yutien sidelined, the Archers still went all the way to win the UAAP championship that season. Sure, he felt he was part of the success, but you couldn’t blame the stab of envy that he felt as he watched his comrades celebrate on the floor.
“Nainggit ako siyempre,” Yutien admits. After all, if you love the game, your school and your teammates, as much as he does, you’d want to have played your guts out by the time the final buzzer sounds. Having been able to fully compete is what will leave you fully satisfied when the emerald confetti finally falls.
The good news for Yutien, and for the DLSU faithful is that Yutien still has one more full playing year. The way he went about his rehab, it doesn’t look like Yutien is going to let that last year go to waste.
Tough rehab? Tougher Andrada
Yutien also thanks his family for their support and love during the time that he needed them. His brother was there for immediate support when he went down. His mother, perhaps despite understandable reservations and fears, just asked Yutien if he wanted to continue to play.
“Tinanong lang ako ng mama ko, Ito ba talaga gusto mo gawin?’ Sabi ko, ‘oo.’ Nakikita naman nilang dito talaga ako masaya.”
No Mommy Dionisia “mag-retire ka na Manny” moments for this family. Mrs. Andrada knew what made his son happiest.
Yutien was also no stranger to pain, and to the rehab process of those who suffered an ACL injury. After all, he had injured the same knee barely a few years back. This time, though, upon Dr. Canlas’ advice, he needed to strengthen his knee, and the muscles that supported the knee, even more.
Dr. Canlas shared that Yutien’s case, because it is a re-injury, was “very challenging.” The cause had to be determined properly and corrected accordingly. Yutien also had to undergo strengthen and conditioning programs that would minimize the possibility of another re-injury.
Despite the daunting challenge, Dr. Canlas was confident in Yutien. “Yutien is a very hard working athlete,” he said. “I had no doubts that he could get back to 100 percent.”
Thus, Yutien strengthened his hamstrings, his gluteus, and his core. Even when he went back to practice with the team, he would still work these muscles out separately, three times a week before and/or after practices. While all these certainly helped his knees, it also helped him develop an even stronger body.
The result: an even stronger Yutien, ready to bang bodies in the UAAP Season 77 wars. If before, he was just a lanky forward who had a great leap and wingspan and made you think twice about your shots, he was now an additional enforcer in the paint for the Archers. You can imagine the incoming memes: Now, one does not simply drive into the La Salle defense.
The most painful part: being away from the game
Yet despite the excruciating pain of the injury and the grueling work of the rehab process, what probably hurt the most for Yutien was the time away from the game he loved.
The intense post-operative treatment had to take longer because it was his second go-around. “Because it is the second surgery, [the time to] get back to the sport usually takes longer,” Dr. Canlas explains.
No basketball. For at least seven months.
No Filipino can imagine being away that long from the game, much more a player who spent his entire young life playing it at a competitive level.
“Puwedeng mag-dribble, o puro shooting, pero walang totoong laro,” Yutien recalls.
When he finally came back into full practice, one can just imagine his sheer joy and gigil. Sure, he continued to work out on his support muscles beyond the practice time. Sure, it was a while before he got the hang of playing with his teammates again. Sure, he had to find the right balance between attack and alalay, between courage and caution.
But at that moment, he was just happy to be back playing hoops again.
May 2014. The future looks Green
Yutien is excited about his team’s chances this year. He’s not predicting or guaranteeing the Archers will win back-to-back crowns, but he acknowledges the truth that their team is among the strongest on paper.
He can’t wait to do battle especially against the toughest teams. One player he is excited to go up against is Aljon Mariano of UST. He respects Mariano’s game a lot, and he says Mariano brings out the best in him. That’s certainly a match-up that fans, not just of UST and La Salle, will be looking forward to.
Gonzalez also likes La Salle’s chances. While he will be waiting to see if Yutien’s state of mind is ready to do battle, he knows what an even stronger Andrada can bring to an already strong team.
Gonzales says, “It will depend on his physical and mental state and how he will be incorporated by coach Juno. I don’t give out predictions in the UAAP… but I think it goes without saying that because they’re defending champs and that they’re virtually intact, they have to be the favored team.”
Moreover, with his knee feeling like it’s in its best shape yet, and his game being intact, he has begun to dream of life beyond college. Of course, he dreams of playing in the PBA. This guy who idolized Marlou Aquino growing up (you can see the similarities from a mile away. Yutien remembers Marlou as a giant who was graceful for his position. And yes, he remembers Marlou’s pre-free throw ritual: the hula hoop passes around the waist), says playing for any team will make him happy.
For now, he’s focused on helping the Archers shoot for that second straight championship, by getting back to his full power.
Yutien’s return to the UAAP probably won’t have as much fanfare as Derrick Rose’s. It seems like he’ll be the first to shy away from that. The joy of returning is enough for him.
That’s why when he was asked about that first game back, that tune-up game in the FilOil Flying V tournament, what he really remembers was not the 19 minutes of playing time, nor the four points, six rebounds, altered shots or the fact that he started for his team. What he remembers most is that he was like a child again, enjoying basketball like he was playing it for the first time.
The way his eyes lit up every time he said “excited,” “saya” and “tuwa” about being able to play basketball again made you think that Yutien understood basketball on a very deep level. It wasn’t just about trophies, endorsements, playoffs, or up to how many times you can win championships in succession; it was about being happy to be doing the thing you knew you were born to do.
Yutien remembers his introspections during his most challenging days, when he was already asking the Big Coach Above what play He was running, why something like this had to happen to him: “Naisip ko na lang nu’n… baka may ibang plano sa akin si God,”
Maybe part of the plan was to use Yutien to make us all remember the sheer joy of being blessed enough to be able to play basketball.
As he walked away from the interview, other people walked up (and looked up) to Yutien, shook his hand, and bid him good luck. They were probably La Salle fans who said they were so happy he’s now back in the lineup.
Yutien smiled back. No one’s happier about being back than he is.
The post Re-unleashing Weapon Y: Yutien Andrada appeared first on SLAMonline Philippines.
