This past season I went through in injury. Injuries happen in every sport and is a big change on the season. If the injury is very serious, like a torn ACL, then you are looking at not playing the rest of the season and a six month recovery. Thankfully my injury was not as serious. I was playing a warm up game in practice and went up to block and came down on another girls foot. I rolled my ankle pretty bad. At first I thought I was fine, walked it off, and played the rest of practice on it. The next day it was bigger then a baseball and my trainer told me this is one of the worst ones she’s seen. I whispered to myself sarcastically, “we’ll that is just great.”
My pain tolerance has always been very high. I was fortunate to not recieve any injuries in my past years of volleyball. Being my first one this year, it was very frustrating. I was required to attend physical therapy every other day to strengthen my foot. I also had to ice before and after practice every day to get the swelling down. After a week, I was feeling no pain but my ankle was still the size of a baseball and looked like the color of green and purple grapes mashed together. I was doing everything I was told and still my ankle was not healing. The trainer thought I was lying when I told her it didn’t hurt at all, but honestly it was not bothering me in any way unless I pull it exteremely hard to the right or left.
My patience was running thin. I couldn’t understand why I had to keep doing these tiny exercises that are wasting time in my day. I have plenty of other things to do throughout the day being a student athlete. Then I relized I need to cooperate and with time it will get better if I keep doing what I need to do. Thankfully my ankle was not restricting me to play, so I was able to still play in the games and practice fully.
After about 3 weeks my ankle finally healed. Looking back at the situation now, it was a very frustrating time for me. Anything holding someone back from playing causes frustration. A lot of athletes experience this feeling and I know from experience that major injuries it is not easy! My sister tore her ACL her senior year of high school and I could tell everyday she wished she was out on the court with me and running in the track meets with me! It takes time to accept your enjury. The best advice is accepting it, and motivating yourself to do something everyday to get better. Focus on the mental side of the game, while your physical side is healing.