High school athlete sidelined by injury is collecting sports gear for kids in need
She was just a few days past her 17th birthday, looking forward to her high school prom. A standout on Ancaster High School's basketball and track teams. And just about to wrap up her first year in the school's challenging International Baccalaureate program.
Everything was going according to plan. But that all changed in May, as she was jumping for a ball on the basketball court. When she landed, she crumpled to the floor with a complete tear of her ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in her knee. cheap nhl jerseys
She hobbled through her prom, with no dancing, just 10 days after her injury. She was a little slower but managed to have a great time during her second summer as a leader in training, working with kids at a camp run by the city. Although she still can't play five months later, Fung was named a captain of the Ancaster Royals basketball team to start this season.
"For me, basketball is a huge sport," she said. "I saw some kids playing in flip flops with an old ball and I realized I had lots of extra shoes and equipment."
She started by digging up some shoes and equipment from her own basement, but Fung doesn't do anything small scale.
Her idea to donate sports equipment to youngsters in need has now mushroomed, with help from her baccalaureate teachers. The IB program has a creativity, action and service component in which students complete six months of a volunteer project expected to be "a challenging and enjoyable personal journey of self discovery."
Fung's basement is full of donated sports equipment that's headed to children at Cathy Wever elementary and Delta Secondary schools next week. Sports shoes of all types, basketballs, baseball gloves, hockey equipment and more will be handed wholesale mlb jerseys china out to kids in need in a project Fung is calling Play It Forward Donations.
Giving other teens and children the chance to play sports while she's sitting on the sidelines seemed like the perfect idea.
"I've had a rough couple of years," she admits. "Two concussions and then the ACL, but I'm still going strong."
There's only one small downside to nhl jerseys china the project, Fung jokes.
"My dad's not happy I've taken over his workout space."
Although the school project is expected to last one year, Fung says it has generated enough interest that she hopes to keep it going. Her short term plan is to get through her ACL surgery, set for later this month, and then begin a social science program at McMaster next September. She hopes to continue her work with children as a full time career.