The secret to Sparks star Cameron Brink's success after her ACL injury? Vision boards

Los Angeles Times

16 hours ago

Each morning before Cameron Brink pulls on her Sparks jersey, she scans a taped-up collage in her closet. Olympic rings, a WNBA All-Star crest, snapshots with her fiancé and a scatter of Etsy trinkets crowd the board.
The canvas is a handmade constellation of who Brink is and who she longs to be. Between magazine clippings and scribbled affirmations, Brink sees both the grand arc and the small vows that tether her: to show up as a teammate, a daughter and a partner.
'You have a choice every day to have a good outlook or a bad outlook,' said Brink, the Sparks' starting forward. 'I try to choose every day to be positive.'
That choice seemed to matter most when the future felt furthest away. The practice emerged in the thick of a 13-month recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Brink — the Stanford star and Sparks No. 2 draft pick — was forced to measure life in the tiniest ticks of progress after injuring her left knee a month into the 2024 season.
Sparks veteran Dearica Hamby recognized how rehab was grinding down the rookie. One afternoon, she invited Brink to her home, where the dining table was set with scissors, glue sticks, stacks of magazines and knickknacks.
'I've always been taught growing up that your mind is your biggest power,' Brink said. 'So I've always been open to stuff like that. I heavily believe in manifesting what you want and powering a positive mindset.'
Hamby had been building vision boards for years and believed Brink could use the same practice — both as a pastime and as a mechanism to combat the doubts that surfaced during her lengthy and often lonely rehab.
'If she can visualize it, she can train her mind the opposite of her negative thoughts and feelings,' Hamby said. 'When you see it, you can believe it. Your brain is constantly feeding itself. And if you have something in the back — those doubts — you need something to counter that.'
The board dearest to Brink wasn't crowded with stats or accolades. She crafted what she calls her 'wonderful life,' layering in snapshots of her fiancé, Ben Felter, and framed by symbols of family and team.
'You're a product of your mind,' Brink said. 'Everything in my life, I feel like I've fought and been intentional about.'
Fighting was what the year demanded. However inspiring the boards looked taped inside her closet, the reality was gradual and often merciless.
From the night she was carried off the court last June to the ovation that greeted her return in July, Brink's progress unfolded in inches — from the day she could stand, to the day she could walk to the day she touched the hardwood again.
'It's been such a journey,' Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. 'Cam's mentality was just trying not to freak out. She was really focused on not being anxious about it.'
Brink came to practice with her game on a leash, her activity hemmed in by doctors' timelines. While teammates scrimmaged, she studied sets from the sidelines.
Roberts praised her patient attitude as 'great,' a skill Brink sharpened by the ritual of opening her closet and trusting the journey.
Kim Hollingdale, the Sparks' psychotherapist, worked closely with Brink during her recovery. While bound by confidentiality, she spoke to how manifestation tools can anchor an athlete through the mental strain of long recovery.
'Being able to stay in touch with where we're ultimately trying to get to can help on those days when it's feeling crappy,' Hollingdale said. 'Visualization helps us be like, 'OK, look, we're still heading to that vision. This is part of the journey.' It gives purpose, direction and a little hope when you're in the mud of recovery.'
That sense of purpose, she added, is about giving the brain something familiar to return to when progress stalls — a way for the mind to rehearse what the legs can't.
For Brink, that meant keeping her game alive in pictures she ran through her head. Putbacks in the paint became reruns in her mind, and Hollingdale said the brain scarcely knows the difference: If it sees it vividly enough, the muscles prime themselves as if the movement truly happened.
What mattered wasn't just mechanics. Tuning out noise became essential as Brink was cleared to return as a WNBA sophomore by calendar yet a rookie by experience. What could have been crushing pressure was dimmed by the vision boards — the 'mental rehearsal,' as Hollingdale labeled it.
'I didn't want to focus on stat lines or accolades coming back from injury,' Brink said. 'I learned the importance of enjoying being out there, controlling what I can control, always having a good attitude — that's what I reframed my mindset to be about.'
During Brink's return against the Las Vegas Aces on July 29, she snared an offensive rebound and splashed a three-pointer within the first minute. And since, she has posted 5.9 points and four rebounds an outing, headlined by a 14-point performance through 11 minutes against Seattle.
Hollingdale tabbed Brink's return a rarity. She often prepares athletes to weather the gauntlet of 'firsts' — the first shot that clangs, the first whistle, the first crowd cheer — without expecting much beyond survival.
But upon Brink's return, those firsts weren't looming unknowns. They were rehearsed memories.
'That is a testament to her being able to manage herself, her emotions and her anxiety and all the stress and pressure,' Hollingdale said. 'To come out and make a meaningful difference to your team straight away speaks to the ability to stay locked in and cut out the noise.'
By refusing to sprint through recovery, Hamby said Brink insulated herself from the pressure that shadows young stars. The vision boards, Hamby added, became a tangible expression of Brink's decision to trust herself.
'She's done it differently,' Hamby said. 'For her, it's more of a mental thing than a physical thing. She took her time, not listening to people tell her she should have been back sooner.'
When Brink shuts the closet door and heads to Crypto.com Arena for game day, she's already spent the morning tracing the steps of the night.
On the next blank corner of her canvas?
'Being an All-Star and going to the Olympics,' she said.