PERSPECTIVES - ATHLETE FEATURE

How adversity helped Toronto Raptors’ assistant coach, Brittni Donaldson, become a better coach

BY MICHELLE YEAP

As the first female assistant coach in Raptors history, and the NBA’s youngest assistant coach, Brittni Donaldson has smashed glass ceilings and broken barriers in the sports world, at only 26-years old.

Combining her passion for the game of basketball with her degree in statistics and actuarial science, she joined the Raptors’ front-office as part of the analytics team in 2017. During this time, she used advanced technology and basketball data to provide valuable insights to both the front office and the coaching staff, including Raptors President Masai Ujiri and Head Coach Nick Nurse. After playing an integral role in the Raptors run to the 2019 NBA Championship title and gaining respect from the staff, she was soon promoted to assistant coach.

Not often talked about are her years leading up to her success, which were far from easy. Faced with devastating injuries and roadblocks thrown her way, her drive to keep going was fuelled by her love of basketball, the love and support of the people around her, and her ‘never give up attitude’.

Donaldson shared how these gruelling experiences in turn shaped her character, developed her resilience and taught her life lessons. She also shared the unique perspectives gained while injured, and how being sidelined allowed her to experience the game from a coach’s perspective. All of these elements contributed to her growth - both on and off the court.

IN THE NEWS:

• 'That means a lot': New Raptors coach Brittni Donaldson happily takes on job of role model

• The unusual path of new Raptors assistant coach Brittni Donaldson

DREAMS OF GOING PRO

“Brittni the basketball player” was her identity.

Basketball had always been her number one passion.

At the mere age of two, her father introduced her to the world of basketball, and by high school, Brittni Donaldson had dreams and aspirations of competing in the WNBA.

"Specifically in basketball, I was super competitive and wanted any edge I could get,” Donaldson said. "I had a hard time knowing when to stop and rest. As a result, I'd often find myself sidelined with injuries - both major and minor.”

THE JOURNEY THROUGH ADVERSITY

She was a relentless athlete - the type of player who was constantly pushing the boundaries with her body. This backfired however, resulting in multiple obstacles all throughout high school and college.

Four gruelling knee surgeries, three concussions, a few staples in her head, a few black eyes, a broken index finger, multiple sprained ankles, a hyperextended elbow, a sprained wrist, multiple jammed fingers, multiple strained muscles… nothing could stop her.

Fearless on the court, she was often found diving after loose balls or taking charges - until one day, she tore her lateral meniscus (the knee’s shock-absorber) during a high school basketball game. The doctor recommended that she stop playing right then and there, so he could operate and “shave off” the damaged part of her meniscus.

It was midway through the season though, and not one to let obstacles stop her, she decided to follow her gut and push through pain until the season ended. Only then did she agree to go under the knife.

The recovery period after the surgery was rough, especially for a competitive athlete. For over a month after the operation, she was stuck sitting on the sidelines, watching her teammates play. A burning desire to be back on the court built up inside her during this time. With patience and hard work in rehab, however, she eventually made a successful comeback.

Years went by, and all was going well for Donaldson. She graduated from high school, and went on to play basketball collegiately for the University of Northern Iowa [the same University Raptors Head Coach, Nick Nurse attended].

Then, when she least expected it, adversity came around and struck again.

"I went up for a jumpshot, got fouled, and landed a little awkwardly on the same knee I had [meniscus] surgery on,” she recalled. "I knew immediately that I had torn it again, and MRI results the next day proved me right.”

Tearing her meniscus as a high school athlete had taught her that playing with a torn meniscus would lead to additional long-term damage to the knee. Learning from her past experience, and not wanting to make the same mistake, she decided to go through with surgery as soon as possible. This time, she knew the drill [no pun intended] and anticipated another long month on the sidelines.

Having basketball suddenly torn away from her for the second time led to a mental struggle. She found that the psychological impact of the injury was more difficult to deal with than the physical side.

"I had to completely reimagine my self-identity, over and over,” Donaldson shared. "Up until college, basketball was all I knew. It was really difficult to picture myself doing anything else, so when I was physically unable to play, I was forced to sit in my own thoughts and dig deep into who I was beyond 'Brittni the basketball player'. It took a long time, and I still struggle with it from time to time. I never really felt like I had the proper closure with the sport [as a player], so I would often get frustrated, wishing I would have been able to walk away from it on my own terms.”

Despite the mental battle, she persevered through tireless rehab sessions, day after day, putting in 100% effort. In a matter of time, she bounced back and was rewarded with a comeback to the court, once again.

Over the next few months, her level of training progressed to its peak. This was a critical time in her collegiate basketball career and she was still grasping onto her dreams of playing in the WNBA.

Then, the situation began to go downhill again. Donaldson began to experience a constant, nagging pain in her knee that would persist 24/7. As a tough athlete who had been through her fair share of injuries, Donaldson convinced herself that it was nothing but a sore joint, shrugging it off and playing through the discomfort… until the pain became nearly unbearable.

MRI results revealed a large bone bruise, a few bone spurs, and early signs of arthritis near the area where she had parts of her meniscus removed. Never would she have expected to be dealing with arthritis at the young age of 26.

Determined to find a solution, she tried absolutely everything - from injections, to physical therapy, to strong anti-inflammatories… but nothing worked. Her pain levels actually started to intensify.

"As athletes, we are always told to be 'mentally tough', which requires pushing through any sort of pain or struggle or inconvenience in order to accomplish the task at hand,” she said. "This is a great mentality to have in some cases - many of us don't grow as people and don't become great until we are pushed beyond what we thought were our boundaries. However, in other cases, silencing your inner dialogue can be detrimental. My body was telling me something was wrong for a long time, but I had been conditioned to ignore it.”

After exhausting all the non-surgical options, she reluctantly agreed to undergo a major knee surgery called “microfracture”. Although she was warned that the success rate would be low for high-level athletes like herself, the resilient athlete was willing to do whatever it took for even the slightest chance of being back on the court playing.

Recovery from the “microfracture” left her bedridden for three weeks with her leg placed in a “knee-bending machine” for a minimum of eight hours a day. Unable to bear any weight on her leg, she stumbled around on crutches for the next five weeks.

All she wanted all this time was to be able to play basketball pain-free again - a desire that too many athletes often take for granted. Focused on her goal, she did her best to maintain a positive mindset. She anticipated the day when she could move on and put this behind her.

Within six months, she made her third comeback.

There was one problem though: the severe knee pain had not dissipated. Reality hit her, that the grueling operation and the months of rehabilitation that she had just suffered through had not given her the results she had hoped for.

Frustrated and in disbelief, she consulted her surgeon, who advised her to stop playing basketball entirely. Donaldson refused to accept this as her fate. Basketball was a key part of her life, and after all the blood, sweat, and tears of the past few years, simply moving on from playing basketball was what she considered to be an “impossible option at the time.” That was not how she wanted her basketball career to end…

…so she sought out another specialist, and was handed three options:

1. stop playing basketball entirely,

2. get a partial knee replacement, or

3. undergo a rare surgery called femoral osteotomy (which would require breaking her thigh bone, inserting a wedge, and plating it back together - this had only been performed on a handful of high-level athletes in the world, and there was no guarantee that she would be able to play again after this)

Continuing to persevere, and fuelled by her love of basketball, she went with option three: undergo a femoral osteotomy. This led to what she recalled to be the most traumatic procedure she had ever experienced in her life.

In the six weeks after having her thigh bone broken and plated together, she was unable to bear any weight on her newly structured knee.

She was forced to relearn how to walk, run, and move. She was back at square one. This was incredibly challenging, especially considering that not too long ago, she was an elite athlete playing competitively.

"Rehabilitation and physical therapy are... not fun,” she said "With a lot of major injuries, you initially spend hours and hours doing extremely simple exercises without seeing or feeling much improvement. It's not easy to show up every day and trust in the long-term goal when you don't see many results. It's not easy to fight through pain and bust your tail every day when you don't even know if you'll be close to the same player when you recover. But you'll never reach your fullest strength if you don't buy-in to the process.”

Despite the stress and exhaustion of the recovery season [on top of the academic stress of studying actuarial science in college], she kept her head up and remained focused on visions of being back on the court.

Six months later, after a long rollercoaster of sheer determination and grit, she finally did it! She made her fourth and final comeback, joining her teammates on the court at last.

Donaldson expressed gratitude for her solid support system which helped keep her going through the trials and tribulations of four knee surgeries.

"I was extremely fortunate to have been surrounded by the most wonderful people throughout my injury battles - especially my parents and my teammates. Injuries - like many other types of traumas - are extremely isolating, so having people around you that are willing to not only help you complete tasks and get you through your day, but also empathize with what you're going through, makes such a huge difference in shaping your perspective and your approach. Because of their love and support, I wanted to do everything I could to get back and be able to play (for and) alongside them again. Without them, I couldn't have persevered in the ways that I often get credit for.”

She was also grateful for everyone who supported her physical recovery and helped her make it back on the court playing again, against all odds:

"With the extraordinary help from my athletic trainers, strength coaches, and physical therapists, I was on the court and in a uniform,” Donaldson said. "I ended my collegiate basketball career as an active player, and was able to contribute.”

ON HOW IT HELPED HER BE A BETTER COACH

Reflecting back on the gruelling years through adversity, she shared how the injury experiences provided her with new perspectives:

"It was sort of a blessing in disguise. Since I was unable to perform physically for such a long time, my favorite way to remain engaged with my sport was to watch film (specifically, NBA film) and break it down as much as I could. I was also able to experience the game from more of a coach's perspective while I was sidelined - whether that was communicating with teammates about things I would see, or sitting near my coaches on the bench in order to get a better idea of what they discuss in certain situations.”

Now, as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors, she realizes how these experiences in turn helped shape her in positive ways:

"In hindsight, I feel like I now have a unique ability to relate to and empathize with my injured players. This not only helps me establish a dialogue and build trust on and off the court, but it fulfills me in ways I wouldn't have imagined. I would never wish injury upon anyone, but in sports, they are almost inevitable. Injuries can cause an unintended buffer between those who are injured and those who aren't - as they are often times, hard to understand. Even at the highest level, athletes are people, and if I can be someone that an injured player feels understood and supported by in times of adversity, I love taking on that role.”

To summarize, the key lessons learned and advice from Donaldson for anyone dealing with sports injuries are:

1. Listen to your body, and don't let anyone else dictate whether or not you're in pain

2. Surround yourself with people who are going to support you - both physically and psychologically. The people around you are important (especially when adversity strikes)

3. Work hard while remaining patient, even if you aren't seeing immediate results. It gets better!

   …

   Thank you Brittni for sharing your story and helping to inspire athletes across the globe!