Ayanna Johnson - My Comeback

Below is a feature story provided by FanWord.com about Ayanna Johnson, the indoor women's long jump school record holder.

I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs in life, like any person, but tearing my ACL was one of the hardest things I’ve ever experienced.

It wasn’t the actual injury as much as it was the unknowns that came with it.

I didn’t know what to expect.

Was this the end of my track and field career?

What if I couldn’t come back? What was going to happen to me?

There were so many questions and no answers.

And believe me, I searched everywhere for them. I looked for actual stories of athletes that tore their ACL and made a successful comeback to track.

Nothing. I couldn’t find a single one.

I felt defeated, scared, and just downright confused on what to do next.

But I couldn’t just sit around feeling sorry for myself. If I couldn’t find what I was looking for, then I’d have to get off my butt and take matters into my own hands.

That’s when I decided to make my own story.

Thanking God for my injury

Up until that point, I’d never really had an injury as an athlete.

Just my luck, I ended up suffering one of the worst injuries you could possibly experience in sports.

One of the turning points for me was meeting with a sports psychologist to work through some of the mental blocks holding me back. Coming back from that sort of injury successfully takes more than just the physical rehabilitation.

I had to change my mindset, too.

At one point, the sports psychologist told me to thank God that my ACL was torn. I really didn’t know how to respond because it made no sense to me in the moment.

Why would I thank God for being in that situation?

It was literally one of the worst things that has ever happened in my athletic career, you know? And you want me to thank God for that? It was hard.

But I ended up doing it anyways.

I thanked God for my situation, and something pretty amazing happened.

As I worked my way back from the injury and eventually returned to running again, I slowly started to understand why I needed to thank God.

That entire journey not only made me a better athlete and person, but most importantly, it made me a better Christian.

Tying the record

Fast forward a few years later and I was competing in a long jump competition at the ASUN Conference Championship.

Just being there felt like a huge win for me because I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to come back, much less be doing well enough to compete on that stage.

But in that moment, I was once again reminded why I should be thanking God.

Coming off an ACL injury, on the big stage, I not only won the long jump, but I matched the school record of 19-4.75.

In that very moment, I felt like God was telling me, “See, you’re okay. I’m still going to allow you to get your dreams and everything that you have prayed to me about.”

It was one of my most defining moments and something I can look back on and always be proud of.

My forever home

I couldn’t have asked to join a better program.

Liberty allowed me to become the person I am today. I’ve met so many people here that I will keep in touch with, hopefully, for the rest of my life.

I’ve grown as a Christian during my time here, and it has helped get me through so much adversity.

People often ask what’s different about Liberty.

What is it about the school that sets it apart from everywhere else?

Whenever I tore my ACL, I also sprained my ankle at the same time. I remember this random girl coming from out of nowhere and literally getting down to pray with me over my ankle.

That entire moment meant the world to me because there aren’t a lot of places you can go where people would actually do something like that, you know?

This place felt like home the moment I walked on campus for the very first time, and six years later, with the season ending and graduation right around the corner, it’ll still be home when I leave.