I'd like to talk a bit about being sidelined for a bit. Nobody
likes being injured or hearing about injury, and most people don't like talking about it unless they're looking for a pity party. And really how much fun are pity parties? I mean the guests are either really drunk, trying to drown their sorrows or sad and teary-eyed. The food is horrible for you--buckets of ice cream, pounds of chocolate, enough fired food to clog miles of arteries--and you're expected to eat enough for three people and those people's dogs. The music sucks--full of sad songs, unrequited love songs, breakup songs, a lot of country--and you can't dance to it. What I'm saying is that I'm not looking for pity and I despise pity parties.
Last weekend, I pulled a rhomboid muscle at camp. It sucked. In fact it sucked so much that I've already ranted once, over blog, about it (you can check that blog out here http://usarugby.org/womens-eagles-blog/item/sitting-out?category_id=451). I don't want to rehash that. If you want to read how I feel about being sidelined, check out that blog.
Instead, I want to talk, now, about one of my teammates--someone who is very close to me. My boo, Hunter, tore her ACL back in November and has been sidelined since then. What's more is that she went into her surgery too soon (the swelling in her knee hadn't subsided and she had very, very limited range of motion), and so she had to get a second surgery to clear out scar tissue and fluid so that her recovery could progress. Now she's running. That's great news for her, because her recovery had come to a virtual standstill before the second surgery. Now she's running. Running. She's doing drills at rugby practice and she's back in the gym.
Let's put this into perspective. All of November, December, January, and February she was out. At the end of February she had her second surgery, and about two weeks after that she was back in the gym (riding the bike, doing some leg press and getting her leg stronger). She was out for four months. In those four months, she had to watch her team play their final game at nationals, miss the NY 7s tournament, deal with the holidays, support me while I attended USA rugby camps, stand on the sidelines for the first few weeks of spring season practice, watch the Furies win ruggerfest and deal with a recovery that was hampered by complications. However, she has handled being sidelined with a resolute spirit and a adaptability akin to a chameleon. She was voted, by the Furies to be a co-captain and has enthusiastically taken on a leadership role without being able to demonstrate, on the pitch, why she deserves that role. That, my friends is tough, and it's a testament to how much her teammates respect her and how much effort, physically, mentally, emotionally and socially, she has put into her game and her team.
Now I don't want this blog to turn into the Ballad of Hunter Griendling. However, I gained a new respect for her after I pulled my rhomboid and had to sit out for a couple of days (oh woe is me, right...I'm singing the blues about having to sit for a couple of days). I just wanted to give her a shout out--her and all of the competitors who find themselves sidelined, but keep on keeping on instead of getting DJ Cry Me A River to throw their pity party.
