By snoadmin
Relative to the young season,6-foot-forward Amanda Foster is not even averaging a point per game for the Long Beach State women’s basketball team, but her perseverance is immeasurable.
Foster’s average of seven minutes per game may not sound like much, but it is a lot more than she played all last season, when she missed the season due to a recurring knee problem.
Foster, a redshirt freshman suffers from Osteochondritis Dissecans Lesions (OCD) on her left knee. Besides extreme pain and constant discomfort, OCD has consequently cut her minutes on the court.
“I have a lot of pain but I have to get through it,” Foster said. “I get really frustrated sometimes but it’s also something I have to deal with.”
The Los Angeles native was a two-time MVP and all-city selection while at Marshall High School. She was rated the 47th best senior in California by Grass Roots Sports in 2004 and earned MVP honors at the Adidas “West Coast Finest” showcase and the “Pacific Coast Shootout.”
After verbally committing to LBSU in 2004, Foster suffered a setback.
One day in the summer of 2004, Foster blew out her left knee during a scrimmage game in practice. She had bone chips in her knee and couldnt walk for a week.
The cause – OCD.
Foster was finally diagnosed with the disorder, but the bad news didn’t end there. Consequently, Foster had to miss her entire junior season in high school. She rehabilitated the whole summer but progress was slow.
Finally, Foster got surgery, went through rehab again and finally gained enough strength to play for the FBC club team in Citrus, Calif. the following summer.
Even though she re-injured her knee in the beginning of her senior year in high school, Foster signed with LBSU.
Three weeks after officially becoming a 49er, Foster underwent an MRI, showing she had a torn ACL and that her OCD was back.
Despite the injury, LBSU women’s basketball head coach Mary Hegarty decided to stick with Foster.
“[Foster] is a tremendous athlete and has tremendous competitiveness and that is why we recruited her,” Hegarty said.
Finally, after a second surgery 11 months ago, Foster is back on the court.
“They believed in me,” Foster said. “I still have pain in my knee but its getting better. It’s something I just have to deal with because I can feel it when I’m not doing anything.”
Hegarty said her forward is at about 50 percent but is improving.
“She missed a lot of time in practice and in not playing but we expect her to be 100 percent by January,” Hegarty said. “She has not been through a complete practice yet. She gets pain and has to back off.
Foster is aware she has missed a lot of playing time but she remians optimisitic about getting more minutes.
“It’s frustrating because I can’t pick it up the way I want,” Foster said on learning the offense. “I just need to stick with it.”
