The ups and downs of professional basketball have never been more real for former Konawaena and Washington State standout Chanelle Molina.
Molina reinjured her right ankle during a team workout on Monday. Now, her plan to compete for a roster spot with the Indiana Fever is on hold.
“I won’t be able to continue to train for the rest of camp,” Molina said on Monday morning. “I’m disappointed and frustrated, but I will come out stronger than ever.”
Molina is currently on a training camp contract with the Fever. She had a strong winter season with the Norrköping Dolphins of the Swedish Basketball League in her debut as a pro, averaging 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
That led to interest from the WNBA. Molina signed with the Fever on Feb. 8. A month later, on Mar. 6, she suffered the ankle injury during the Dolphins’ win over Hogsbo. Without Molina, Norrköping won one of its last two regular-season games, then lost to Hogsbo in a best-of-three quarterfinal-round series.
By April, she was back in the U.S. preparing for her dream opportunity. Prior to reinjuring her ankle, Molina shared her process.
“I stayed in Arizona with one of my close people from back in college and he helped me rehab my ankle. When I was in Arizona, I did ankle mobility exercises, twice a day. I would then run on the treadmill in the evening for an hour to get my ankle to adapt to the pounding of it. After a few days of that, I progressed to having my ankle adapt to hopping and landing on it,” she said on Friday. “I had three individual workouts, 30 minutes each, since I’ve been in Indiana and my ankle got better each time.”
On Friday, she went 5-on-5 fullcourt for the first time with her new team.
“I would say it’s about 80 percent right now,” she said at the time.
As expected, it was all about training once she landed in Indiana.
“If I’m not in the gym, I’m quarantining in the hotel room. It’s been nice because we have a really big TV in our room and so I would watch FX movies and ice and rest my ankle,” Molina said.
She met the team on Friday for the first time.
“Since there were COVID protocols, we all couldn’t be in the same room until today,” she said.
Molina had some shout outs for old pals.
“Shout out to my best friends Ihilani Victor, Brant Yamamoto, and Tanner Gray. I haven’t kept in touch with them in a while, but I know that when we see each other, we get back to where we left off,” she said.
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