ACL – Joanne C. Gerstner

November 30, 2011

Happy holidays!

Hey everybody –

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are preparing well for the upcoming holiday season. This is always one of my favorite times of the year. I am a huge sucker for Christmas lights. I will not be a sucker for all the sweets and Christmas cookies this year. I promise.

Finally working my way back into good shape to play tennis and tackle all the things I want to do/try. It takes time to get back to yourself from ACL surgery and rehab. They tell you that, you believe them, but you have no clue what it really means. I was told, at the World Cup this summer in Germany, by a player that she felt she was 100 percent herself about 18-20 months after surgery. And you know what, I think she’s right.

In the meantime, I am doing all my stretches and cardio to kick my butt into shape. It’s actually fun to work out, because you know the alternative of not being able to move 🙂

So I have been busy, continuing to write for the NY Times, contribute as an editor for espnW, and do some fun things for MGoBlue.com. Go check them out.

In the meantime….go get on Santa’s nice list, if you’re not there already!!!

Thanks and love!
Joanne

August 31, 2011

Count your blessings! Always!

– First things first: I am unreal blessed. My ACL recon is a success, my knee is pain-free, wiggle-free, very flexible. I was a good solider through rehab and I can do whatever I want in the world. I just am a bit frustrated in my efforts to get my right quads as strong as my left. I know it takes time. Trying to be Zen and patient. A year ago at this time, things were not even close to being this good (pre-surgery). So patience, grasshopper.

– We’re getting closer to the release of my Pistons and Raptors children’s books. Can’t wait! May be a good way to get a kids’ dose of NBA hoops while the big boys stay stalled in their lockout mess 🙂 I will post an amazon link soon.

Happy Labor day to all!
Joanne

November 12, 2010

Hey kids!

Your limping girl, checking in. Doing better, limping less, crutches going back into the basement closet – hopefully to stay. Getting through my rehab has really been eye-opening. I have a new, real respect for the countless female (and male) professional and college athletes who endured this with their careers on the line. Can’t even imagine. I just want to get back to being normal and whacking tennis balls when I feel like it. The doubt that fosters in your mind about if your knee is strong, or what does that twinge mean must be a huge hurdle to overcome if you are looking to resume an athletic career. So props to the ACL brigade, especially Purdue’s Robbie Hummel, who blew out the same knee twice – in one year. Robbie, makes me nearly cry just thinking about it. Hang in there dude, and Boiler up! in rehab.

The 411…

Joanne C. Gerstner is an award-winning multimedia journalist, author, college professor and Fulbright specialist. She extensively covers, and is an expert, on sports, concussions in sports, the global business of athletics, women in media, and journalism/social media for outlets such as The New York Times, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the BBC, USA Today, ESPN and Detroit News.

She is the co-author of “Back in the Game: Why Concussion Doesn’t Have to End Your Athletic Career”, with Dr. Jeff Kutcher (Oxford University Publishing, 2016), an Amazon No. 1 hot seller on youth sports and concussions. She has also written five children’s books.

In 2019, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appointed her to the state’s first Women in Sports Task Force. The group served three-years, making recommendations for legislation and other private sector changes in the state to assist girls and women in playing sports, and finding careers in athletics.

Gerstner is a sought-after expert, speaker and panelist, appearing at SXSW Sports, CoSIDA, the University of Michigan, Jacobs Foundation, the American Academy of Neurology’s Concussion conference, the Association for Women in Sports Media, and numerous media appearances (BBC, NPR, etc.)

She is the Brandt Fellow Sports Journalist in Residence at the School of Journalism at Michigan State University, and has won fellowships with Knight-Wallace at the University of Michigan (2012-2013), Jacobs Foundation (2015) and Steve Saler-Medill (1995).

Gerstner is the recipient of Oakland University’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2020); the Association for Women in Sports Media’s Ann Miller Award (2014); Faculty Impact Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University (2017); the inaugural MSU ComArtsSci Brandt Fellowship for Faculty Excellence (2021), and the Headliner Award from the Association for Women in Communications Detroit chapter (2017). She was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in 2021.