‘Life or limb’: Basketballer Grace George still dreams of Olympics glory despite horror injury

After suffering a major knee injury that tore the four major knee ligaments, an Ipswich basketball player has revealed she may never play again, but is not ready to give up on her dreams just yet.

After sustaining a life threatening, and potentially career ending injury on the court, aspiring Olympic basketball player Grace George has revealed her recovery 10 months on.

The Ipswich Force Guard fell horribly during the third quarter in her team’s bout with the Gold Coast Rollers on June 25 last year, sustaining a life-threatening leg injury.

George was rushed to the Princess Alexandra Hospital for emergency surgery after paramedics took almost an hour to arrive.

Grace George said “these photos show how everything can change in their blink of an eye.” The first photo was taken pre-game on June 24, 2023, and the second was after her first surgery the next day. Picture: Facebook.

George said she was only worried about her basketball career, and if whether she’ll ever get to play again.

“When the paramedics realised that I didn’t have any blood flow and called in a ‘Code Blue’, which means limb or life, I was pretty scared,” Ms George said.

“My initial thought was is this going to be the end of my basketball career?

“Then I was just focusing on managing the pain and listening to my teammate Georgia (Ralph), who is also my physiotherapist.

“I was just trying to listen to her voice and just trying to not go into shock”.

The Ipswich native had been playing professionally in the Women’s British Basketball League for the Oaklands Wolves, cementing herself as one of the team’s star players and a leader.

Grace George Basketball Video Screenshots

For George, returning home to play in her off-season at the association where she first learnt to dribble a ball felt like the right thing to do.

“I had been overseas playing in the UK for so long, so I decided to have my off-season at home,” she said.

“I thought I may as well come home and be with a few of my friends who were in the team and be with my family.

“I wasn’t going to be home for too long, so I figured I might as well return to my roots”.

But the road to recovery has been long and arduous for the gifted basketballer.

While the long term goal of returning to the court, and continuing her drive to play for the Opals in the Olympics remains, the thought that she may never play again still lingers in the back of her mind.

Grace George has undergone multiple surgeries to save her knee following a life-threatening injury in June 2023. Her knee was entirely dislocated (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL), her popliteal artery was compressed and then “ripped up”, a few avulsion fractures and then tendon damages. Picture: Facebook.

Yet George refuses to give up on that dream, with coaching being a short-term fix to keep the budding player around the sport.

“I find it difficult when people ask me if I’m studying something else or if I’m interesting in doing something other than basketball,” she said.

“I want to say I get upset, but I don’t know if that’s the right word, but if I think about doing something else, I feel like I’m giving up playing.

“I know I’m not going to be able to play forever, so if I can get a good idea of coaching, maybe it’ll be something that I want to do seriously down the track.

“But for now, I find it quite difficult at the moment to commit to something other than basketball”.