By Two minutes and thirty seconds.
That’s how long LBSU women’s basketball’s redshirt sophomore forward Kennan Ka’s 2023-24 season lasted before tearing her anterior cruciate ligament, lateral meniscus and medial collateral ligament in the first quarter of the season’s first game.
After playing in all 33 games in her freshman campaign and being an integral part of The Beach’s 17-3 record in Big West play that secured the regular-season conference title, Ka was poised to take a jump on the court with her game and off the court as a leader.
Ka got the start in the season opener against Biola, even recording the team’s first field goal and rebound before her season was cut short in a gruesome fashion.
“To be honest, I think I was in denial for a while. I didn’t believe it,” Ka said. “Going into that game, I felt like I was in the best shape of my life, I felt like I was playing really good basketball.”
The magnitude of Ka’s injury was unknown originally. It was later discovered that her MCL had suffered unique structural damage, which indicated it was almost detached from both sides of the bone.
“It really just affected my daily life; it was hard to have a sense of independence,” Ka said. “I really couldn’t walk or put weight on it, I was locked straight in a knee brace for around two months, on crutches for two more months.”
Routine day-to-day tasks became a struggle for Ka, as grappling with her new, uncharted reality became a hard truth to accept.
“Getting on the couch, I had to have a band in order to lift my leg up or to drive. It would take me five minutes to back my seat up all the way,” Ka said. “Little things that you take for granted were just challenging.”
With significant obstacles on the horizon, Ka soon realized the mental and physical strength required to make a full recovery to get back onto the court.
Ka credits her “unbelievable support system” of coaches, teammates, family and friends from her home in San Diego, who supported her in the ways she needed during her road back to rehabilitation.
“I had a great team of physical therapists, chiropractors and doctors all behind me,” Ka said. “I think Long Beach [State] just [offers] a lot of support and services off campus that helped me progress.”
Ka said her former strength coach, Uri Lopez, had an immense impact on her over the past year. She acknowledges him for being in her corner throughout the recovery process.
“He would always be checking in on me, constantly supporting me. He would write up workouts that I could do,” Ka said. “Also, just on the mental side, he was always there for me.”
With the new season approaching, Ka has been medically cleared and is on schedule to return to action for LBSU’s first exhibition game on Wednesday, Nov. 6. against Cal State LA at the Walter Pyramid before the regular season gets underway three days later against William & Mary.
Ka’s return to the court will come exactly 364 days after the career-threatening injury sidelined her.
“It’s totally changed my perspective to never take a day for granted,” Ka said. “Every time I lace up my shoes now I just take a moment of gratitude that I can play a sport where I can move my body.”
