Does this guy's ankle look injured to you?

In my 25 years of life, I’ve played my fair share of sport. I’ve spent time in the gym, I’ve surfed, I’ve played cricket, and a hell of a lot of rugby. All things considered, I’ve been pretty lucky on the injury front.

I had injuries ranging from minor broken fingers to a badly broken nose – courtesy of a fight during a rugby game in grade 10. None of those ever made me shy away from sport, until I really did myself some harm in my first year of University. 

Read: Coleman's horrific injury an accident

Playing rugby for my residence in Pretoria was a lot of fun – it was mainly social, but it was also pretty physical. Winters in Pretoria are notoriously cold and the fields we played on were hard as rock.

A few days before one of our league games, I rolled my ankle during practice. It was sore but I could still run and I tried to shake off the injury. Not thinking too much about it, I went into the game a few days later without strapping up the ankle.

Read: Frans Malherbe ruled out with neck injury

I managed to play most of the game before I endured the most horrendous injury I’ve ever had. I was chasing down the ball, which had been kicked up field, and it was bouncing all over the place. As I changed direction to try grab the ball, my ankle snapped underneath my weight.

The popping sound was like someone had shot me from the sidelines. I crumbled into a heap and couldn’t walk, and I had to be carried off the field.

Also read: Sonny Bill joins injury list

A few weeks later I went for scans and doctors confirmed that I’d completely torn the ligaments in my ankle. I went under the knife and it took me about six months before I could run again.

The doctor was skeptical about my return to sport, but I worked hard on my rehabilitation and ended playing rugby for a number of years afterwards.

With all that being said – I can completely empathise with NBA star Gordon Hayward, who snapped his ankle in a game earlier this week.

The video is pretty rough – if you’re queasy, it’s time to look away...

Warning: This video below may not be suitable for sensitive viewers