As an athlete, you are trained to work through the pain and push your body up to the breaking point.But what we’ve never been trained for is how to deal with the pain after you’ve pushed your body over the breaking point.
During the fall offseason, I’ve been practicing with the golf team and working on a dramatic swing change that puts a lot of torque on my left knee.
I’ve been practicing and playing hurt because that’s how we were trained. As they say, mind over matter or whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
I was behaving a little like Orange Coast College women’s soccer player Nique Phetchanpheng, 18, but the pain she was playing through, she found out after she finished a game, was caused by a 50 percent tear of her quadriceps muscle.
“I felt a little tweak but I didn’t pay much attention to it,” she said. “I’m not the type of person that like sits out because of an injury so I just shook it off.”
That’s typical for all athletes and former Pirates starting middle linebacker Matt Henry, 20, was no different.
“Originally I didn’t even think it was broken,” Henry said of his fifth metatarsal fracture that’ll sideline him for the rest of this year. “The doc originally said two weeks (recovery) then I went to see a specialist and he said I needed surgery.”
Coast wide receiver Derek Romo’s case also shows how unpredictable injuries are.
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Romo, 18, who is out for this season from tearing his MCL, ACL and meniscus when a teammate accidentally hit his knee in practice. “The worst part is I can’t play the sport I love.”
Now he and Romo are both redshirted and can only contribute by being cheerleaders on the sideline.
“It’s hard to even go to the games and watch practice because you wish you were out there helping them out,” Henry said.
Even though golf’s not a high-contact sport, it was no different for me.
I shrugged off my sore knee, even though I heard a pop, as another day of hard work and convinced I just needed to ice it down.
But when I couldn’t walk without gimping, I went to the doctor and he said I have a partially hyper-extended knee and may have a meniscus injury that might require surgery.
This was something that no coach, teacher or parent prepared me for. The thought of having a surgery that might affect how I play my sport for the rest of my life scared me to death.
But I think the thought of never playing at Coast again (knock on wood) scared me even more.
I’m going to see an orthopedic doctor today (Oct. 7) who specializes in the knee and leg to see the extent of my injury and it feels like I’m going to see the grim reaper.
I’m hoping for the best, regardless of whether I need surgery, and the next time I swing a golf club as a Pirate, I will not take a single moment for granted.
I love waking up at 5 a.m. three days a week to practice with my teammates. I love the discipline I’ve learned from being a student athlete.
But most of all, I love being a Pirate and representing Orange Coast College when I compete. The expression “You never know what you had until you lose it” has never been truer for me.
“I want to be back out there more than just sit around in the sidelines and watch,” said Phetchanpheng, who is back playing for the lady Pirates this year. “My love for the sport is my motivation to get back out there.”
EDIT
My doctor told me I'll be out 6-8 weeks with, not a meniscus injury, a MCL tear. No surgery will be required and hopefully I'll be able to start my rehab at the end of this week.
[Photo by Peter Bicknell]
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