Canberra Capitals recruit Kelsey Griffin admits her career would be over if not for a switch of national allegiance and the world-class training facility on her new doorstep.
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Alaska-born Griffin has been undergoing rehabilitation at the AIS following ankle surgery as she prepares to join the Australian Opals squad for the Four Nation tournament in China next week.
She has been training alongside Marianna Tolo, whose return from an anterior cruciate ligament tear is ahead of schedule but Capitals coach Paul Goriss insists he will "definitely not" rush her back from injury in time for tip-off in October.
He will have Griffin at his disposal, however if not for the "incredible" AIS it wouldn't be that way.
Instead of winning Commonwealth Games gold and chasing a WNBL title in Canberra, Griffin would be settling into retirement following a horror injury run.
"This will technically be my third rehab that I have done here and that has given me the opportunity to play for the Opals and I know for a fact that if I didn’t have the resources here to be able to rehab, I wouldn’t be still playing," Griffin said.
"[Following a hamstring repair in 2017] I was to the the point where I just wanted to feel good again, I couldn’t even think about playing sport.
"It ended up being a six-week turnaround from sitting on the couch uncomfortable with my incision to being able to compete in an Opals camp in Phoenix.
"The team here is just remarkable and I think it’s an incredible asset to sports in Australia. I’m so grateful because my career could potentially be over if I didn’t have the staff here at the AIS to get me back."
The comeback trail can often be a lonely one - but that's not the case for Griffin. She has shared every moment of the journey with Tolo - they even share a birthday.
Tolo is expecting big things in her return to Canberra, conceding "it's been a while" since the Capitals have built a roster boasting the calibre of players they will boast this season.
While Griffin might be new to the Capitals set-up, it hasn't taken long for her to mirror Tolo's desire to snap Canberra's seven-year finals drought.
"We want to see Canberra be successful again. It’s definitely something near and dear to Tolo’s heart and it’s becoming near and dear to my heart," Griffin said.
"She’s a legend in her own right, she’s still young and has plenty of basketball left to play. What she is doing and now coming off her second ACL, as positive as she is but also getting better each time, is a testament to who she is as a person and her work ethic."
Tolo says her range of movement is far better than it was following her first ACL tear and the 29-year-old hopes that will allow her to rediscover her strength quicker ahead of her return to basketball in mid-November.
