Senior Annelise Ito tore her ACL in a club basketball game two weekends ago. Ito will most likely be unable to play for the rest of her senior year.
Ito is scheduled for surgery the day before Thanksgiving break. Though Kaiser has told her she cannot play right now, she is going to get a second opinion. After an MRI scan, her basketball future should be clear.
With the hiring of a new coach, Ito’s role as the veteran leader on the Campolindo team is on the line.
“I definitely want to still be part of the team,” explained Ito. “Maybe I could be a team captain or something. I just want to be a part of the team, get my senior night, and be there for all of them during the games even if I can’t play.”
The weekend after her surgery, Ito will be visiting Grand Canyon University, a small private school in Arizona and Omaha, Nebraska. “Hopefully I’ll be able to play in college even if I am missing the high school season,” says Ito.
Campo teammate Annie Shurtz said that Ito “always pushed everybody and had a positive attitude towards the games. Annelise played guard but she could really play any position. She is a very important player to the team and [her absence] will affect game strategy and play.”
Ito had anticipated the arrival of new opportunities with the introduction of the new high school coach, Elgin Leslie.
Leslie is the brother of Lisa Leslie, former American professional women’s basketball player in the WNBA.
Ito said that “it’s a bummer that I can’t play for the new coach and play with an entirely different team dynamic this year but I think they’ll do great without me.”