PiPress: Rachel Banham cleared for full contact

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Marcus:

All-Big Ten Minnesota guard Rachel Banham was cleared ro return to full contact in practice last week after missing last season with a torn ACL.

Banham, who suffered the knee injury during a Dec. 11 game at North Dakota, was leading the Gophers in scoring with 18 points a game in 10 games last year.

"It's great; I love it," Banham said. "My team is doing really well and the girls have been so supportive this whole time. I'm excited to be back playing with them."

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_28929467/gophers-rachel-banham-cleared-practice

Go Gophers!!
 


http://www.startribune.com/improved...by-gophers-coach-marlene-stollings/330995531/

Amelia Rayno writes about Rachel's summer rehab:

"Getting back to “natural,” though, required months of slow building and a few odd-sounding tactics.

After surgery in January, the 5-9 Lakeville native went through her initial rehabilitation before kicking things up a notch when new strength and conditioning coach Ralph Petrella was hired in July.

His focus was on regaining her explosiveness and getting her body readjusted to jumping. Petrella also brought some new techniques, including occlusion training — in which he uses a tourniquet to cut off blood supply to the injury for certain workouts.

The idea, Petrella said, is to starve the cells so they grow more when the pressure is removed.

“It’s definitely different,” said Banham, who credits the treatment for leaving her “fresher” after workouts. “Anything that helps my knees, body get better, I’m open to all those ideas and he has a lot of crazy ideas.”


Another of those is the new monitors Petrella has all the players wearing during workouts and practices. The device tracks everything from heart rate to internal core temperature and even the toll that all the running and jumping takes on Banham’s rehabbing knee. It also shows exactly how much improvement she has made from a cardiovascular standpoint.

“It’s very, very exciting,” Petrella said. “She’s very committed, and I think she’ll be much improved.”

The device has helped the team know when to hold Banham back and when to let her attack, Petrella said, even if Banham doesn’t always listen. Although she can compete in every drill and calls her knee “95 percent” healthy now, the coaches sometimes pull her out of drills for rest."
 

So our women's team played a road game in Grand Forks? I wonder if the men did that if they would move the game to the ice rink?
 

This should make Andre Hollins happy.

Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink.
 



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