After I recently got back from visiting a college, I went straight into a high school camp. On the last day of camp, my knee buckled while I was dribbling and blew out. I found out the next week that I had a complete tear of my right ACL. I'm getting surgery on Thursday and starting physical therapy next week. So, my problem is what and when I should tell the coach about my injury? If you have any thoughts please let me know. And I wanted to thank you so much because your advice and has helped me out so much in the recruiting process!!!!!

I’m very sorry to hear about your knee. This happens all too frequently and can really derail the process of college sports recruitment. On the ACL front, some very good news was reported in the New York Times this past week. Doctors and physical therapists have developed an exercise routine that can reduce ACL injuries -- especially in girls -- by up to 40%. Increasingly, this is a regular part of college teams’ daily workouts. And it should be part of your team’s as well.

Phew. Sorry about the digression there, but that development is very encouraging news. As for your question, there are some people out there who say that you shouldn’t tell your college coaches. That is bad advice. The best thing you can do in the recruiting process is be honest. Give the coach a call and tell him what happened, that you're really bummed about it, but that you're doing everything you can to return to action quickly. If you don’t tell him, he'll probably find out one way or another, and may not like the fact that you weren’t up front with him.

So here's what I would do: call him and let him know what's up. Then send him monthly email updates on your recovery. This will be a good incentive for you to work hard and it will show him how serious you are about overcoming the injury and convincing him that this is just a minor setback for you. Good luck and keep us posted on your recovery!