Photo by: Parker Waters
Vorpahl Headed Back to Europe After Earning Master's Degree from Tulane
Jul 8, 2019 | Women's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS – Leslie Vorpahl thought the Romanian doctor's diagnosis got lost in translation. Surely, there was a mistake.
It couldn't be a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He must have gotten the English words incorrect.
After all, Vorpahl mostly felt fine. Immediately after suffering the minimal-contact injury while playing for her Cluj Napoca professional team in Romania in April 2018, she didn't think anything was severely wrong with her left knee.
"It wasn't excruciating pain like a lot of people experience, so I was like, 'Oh, I'll be good,'" Vorpahl said.
Following a closer inspection, Vorpahl got the bad news. The doctor was right. Her left ACL was indeed torn. It meant eight months to a year of recovery and an abrupt end to her first year of professional basketball after graduating from Tulane in May 2017.
But Vorpahl is nothing if not an optimist. Always in a good mood, she took her injury in stride and used the recovery time to make the best out of the situation. That torn ACL might wind up being – long term – a great thing for her career.
Because of that injury, Vorpahl came back to the United States where she earned herself a master's degree from her alma mater, rehabbed her knee to play basketball again, learned about the world of coaching and – in May – was able to secure another professional contract with the Nördlingen Angels in Germany.
"I'm gonna really click with them," Vorpahl said of the Angels. "They were just like, 'Oh we love you. We want you.' I felt welcomed, and it was cool coming from an injury knowing someone wants me to play there."
A year earlier, her future looked much more uncertain.
Upon returning home to San Antonio, she began her rehab with a dream of returning to professional basketball but unsure how to spend her year away from the game. Tulane women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton reached out to her in May 2018 and suggested the possibility of Vorpahl returning to Tulane as a graduate assistant coach.
The timing could not have been more perfect. Tulane's three graduate assistants from the 2017-18 season were all leaving, and Vorpahl had shown an interest in coaching during her time as an undergraduate. In 2017, she attended the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "So You Want to be a Coach?" program, and a graduate assistantship at Tulane could be a great start to a career in basketball coaching.
Instead of working with her sister-in-law in San Antonio or getting a desk job where she didn't have to move around much, Vorpahl was right back where she belonged at Tulane and earning a graduate degree in health and wellness management.
"Being around this facility, everything just fell into place," Vorpahl said. "Being back with the coaches, being back on the campus, having all these old friends that were graduated with me who came back this year, the timing of it was really perfect."
After graduating from Tulane the first time, Vorpahl had never really considered going to get a graduate degree. Being on the staff last season, though, was something she really came to appreciate. Her recent playing experience and knowledge of Tulane's system made her a great source of information and inspiration for the student-athletes still on the roster.
When it came to instruction, Vorpahl had lots of free rein to help the team's point guards. A former star point guard for the Green Wave who remains third all-time in team history in assists, she had no trouble getting Tulane's current point guards to heed her advice.
"Coach Stockton gave me a lot of leeway," Vorpahl said. "She said, 'You know the system, you know the plays, you know the rotation, just help these point guards out in any way you can.'"
As the Green Wave's 2018-19 season ended, Vorpahl was finally cleared to play basketball again. In the final weeks of the season, she could be seen fully participating in drills with and against the team's athletes.
Each week, her confidence on that left knee grew, and her focus turned to finishing that graduate degree and getting back into the professional game.
Following an ACL tear, teams might be less likely to consider signing an athlete. Vorpahl was concerned about that, and she noticed less interest than she got fresh out of college and much less interest than toward the end of her season in Romania when she was a proven professional scoring 15 points and adding six assists every night.
With fewer offers coming in, Vorpahl had to be less picky. But the Nördlingen Angels came calling in May, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. The team reached out to Vorpahl's agent, and she liked that the German coach really wanted a strong point guard.
The city also appealed to her. Nördlingen is a smaller town between Stuttgart and Munich and from above looks like a walled-in circle. With a population near 20,000, the whole city feels like a college campus to Vorpahl.
"It just seemed like an organized, professional club, and it was a safe route to go," Vorpahl said. "The people were great. I said let's just do it, let's not wait and lose this opportunity to another player."
Vorpahl will be headed to Germany in August – with one extra degree in hand – and her season is set to begin in late September. The injury kept her away from professional basketball for a year, but it wound up giving her plenty more in return. She got another degree from her alma mater, coaching experience for her future and bonus time with the friends, teammates and coaches she bonded with during her first four years at Tulane.
True to form, Vorpahl never let the injury get her down. She saw it as an opportunity, and she was rewarded in the end.
"You kind of put in perspective, how many people this injury happens to and how many people come back from it," Vorpahl said. "It's not life-ending, or career-ending. At the end, you're gonna be okay. It's gonna be a process, but I think you're either gonna have a bad attitude or a good attitude, so why not make a good time out of it? Make your story a little inspiring."
It couldn't be a torn anterior cruciate ligament. He must have gotten the English words incorrect.
After all, Vorpahl mostly felt fine. Immediately after suffering the minimal-contact injury while playing for her Cluj Napoca professional team in Romania in April 2018, she didn't think anything was severely wrong with her left knee.
"It wasn't excruciating pain like a lot of people experience, so I was like, 'Oh, I'll be good,'" Vorpahl said.
Following a closer inspection, Vorpahl got the bad news. The doctor was right. Her left ACL was indeed torn. It meant eight months to a year of recovery and an abrupt end to her first year of professional basketball after graduating from Tulane in May 2017.
But Vorpahl is nothing if not an optimist. Always in a good mood, she took her injury in stride and used the recovery time to make the best out of the situation. That torn ACL might wind up being – long term – a great thing for her career.
Because of that injury, Vorpahl came back to the United States where she earned herself a master's degree from her alma mater, rehabbed her knee to play basketball again, learned about the world of coaching and – in May – was able to secure another professional contract with the Nördlingen Angels in Germany.
"I'm gonna really click with them," Vorpahl said of the Angels. "They were just like, 'Oh we love you. We want you.' I felt welcomed, and it was cool coming from an injury knowing someone wants me to play there."
A year earlier, her future looked much more uncertain.
Upon returning home to San Antonio, she began her rehab with a dream of returning to professional basketball but unsure how to spend her year away from the game. Tulane women's basketball coach Lisa Stockton reached out to her in May 2018 and suggested the possibility of Vorpahl returning to Tulane as a graduate assistant coach.
The timing could not have been more perfect. Tulane's three graduate assistants from the 2017-18 season were all leaving, and Vorpahl had shown an interest in coaching during her time as an undergraduate. In 2017, she attended the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "So You Want to be a Coach?" program, and a graduate assistantship at Tulane could be a great start to a career in basketball coaching.
Instead of working with her sister-in-law in San Antonio or getting a desk job where she didn't have to move around much, Vorpahl was right back where she belonged at Tulane and earning a graduate degree in health and wellness management.
"Being around this facility, everything just fell into place," Vorpahl said. "Being back with the coaches, being back on the campus, having all these old friends that were graduated with me who came back this year, the timing of it was really perfect."
After graduating from Tulane the first time, Vorpahl had never really considered going to get a graduate degree. Being on the staff last season, though, was something she really came to appreciate. Her recent playing experience and knowledge of Tulane's system made her a great source of information and inspiration for the student-athletes still on the roster.
When it came to instruction, Vorpahl had lots of free rein to help the team's point guards. A former star point guard for the Green Wave who remains third all-time in team history in assists, she had no trouble getting Tulane's current point guards to heed her advice.
"Coach Stockton gave me a lot of leeway," Vorpahl said. "She said, 'You know the system, you know the plays, you know the rotation, just help these point guards out in any way you can.'"
As the Green Wave's 2018-19 season ended, Vorpahl was finally cleared to play basketball again. In the final weeks of the season, she could be seen fully participating in drills with and against the team's athletes.
Each week, her confidence on that left knee grew, and her focus turned to finishing that graduate degree and getting back into the professional game.
Following an ACL tear, teams might be less likely to consider signing an athlete. Vorpahl was concerned about that, and she noticed less interest than she got fresh out of college and much less interest than toward the end of her season in Romania when she was a proven professional scoring 15 points and adding six assists every night.
With fewer offers coming in, Vorpahl had to be less picky. But the Nördlingen Angels came calling in May, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. The team reached out to Vorpahl's agent, and she liked that the German coach really wanted a strong point guard.
The city also appealed to her. Nördlingen is a smaller town between Stuttgart and Munich and from above looks like a walled-in circle. With a population near 20,000, the whole city feels like a college campus to Vorpahl.
"It just seemed like an organized, professional club, and it was a safe route to go," Vorpahl said. "The people were great. I said let's just do it, let's not wait and lose this opportunity to another player."
Vorpahl will be headed to Germany in August – with one extra degree in hand – and her season is set to begin in late September. The injury kept her away from professional basketball for a year, but it wound up giving her plenty more in return. She got another degree from her alma mater, coaching experience for her future and bonus time with the friends, teammates and coaches she bonded with during her first four years at Tulane.
True to form, Vorpahl never let the injury get her down. She saw it as an opportunity, and she was rewarded in the end.
"You kind of put in perspective, how many people this injury happens to and how many people come back from it," Vorpahl said. "It's not life-ending, or career-ending. At the end, you're gonna be okay. It's gonna be a process, but I think you're either gonna have a bad attitude or a good attitude, so why not make a good time out of it? Make your story a little inspiring."
Players Mentioned
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