As an athlete currently struggling through my longest and first career-threatening injury, having to listen to skeptics, doubters and uniformed outsiders, all the while trying to cope with the realization that they may be right, I decided it was time to shed light onto that which most do not comprehend.
Every athlete's nightmare is getting injured and finding out that it will be long-term; there is nothing more difficult on a mental, physical, and emotional level. Many outside of the sporting world undervalue athletes; they believe them to be over-paid children simply playing a game and do not take their struggles seriously. All of this is for one reason, they simply do not understand.
It begins with the event itself, the injury. The circumstances surrounding it are irrelevant. Serious injuries happen in competition, in training, and sometimes just in everyday life. Among the worst sensations is the sudden realization that your injury is serious. Even before emotion sets in, much like is rumored to happen when dying, athletes experience a similar process but instead of your life flashing before your eyes, it’s your career.
The majority of long-term injuries require one or more surgical procedures. The absolute lowest point for an athlete is in the immediate aftermath, the feeling of helplessness and complete incapacity to perform at any level provides the feeling of hitting rock bottom.
Its very easy to slip into a depression, this of course varies depending on the injury, age of the athlete, and mental fortitude of the individual. However, most do reach at least a minor form of depression. Nothing can prepare you for the moment the doctor sits you down and suggests maybe its time you begin to consider what else you could do with your life. What many outsiders fail to understand is that athletes devote their bodies, minds, personal lives, and otherwise to their sport. It’s born out of a deep-routed love and for many an obsession. Just like in any other field, or in relationships, when you fear losing something that is your life's passion, it can and will emotionally compromise even the most astute of individuals and can manifest itself into problems in every other part of the athlete’s life. It can have an effect on family life just as much as the career itself.
The rehabilitation process that follows presents a new set of obstacles to overcome. Most begin the rehabilitation process full of enthusiasm, motivation and positive energy; that is assuming the injury was not diagnosed as career ending. The obstacles present themselves once the process has begun; first is the physical challenge and frustration of feeling inadequate. It is not the actual physical struggle of the rehabilitation itself that is difficult as it is the mental endurance not to get discouraged and quit. Some days in that training room don't go so well, you may feel more pain than normal and not make it through the day's scheduled exercises. These are the days that give rise to that innate human instinct to abandon that which is causing mental and physical duress. Once the mind of an athlete is no longer in it, the body follows. The duration of the rehabilitation process is the most mentally suffocating issue to take on. You begin to feel the inevitable, that it's never going to happen.
Back in the late 1990s, famed soccer player, three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Brazilian star Ronaldo was famously stricken by a horrible knee injury and proceeded to re-injure the same knee of his first match back after a whole year out of the game. It was well reported that he began to lose hope and at the peak of his career and seriously contemplated retirement. Thankfully for fans of world soccer, he pulled through and returned to lead Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002. The anguish of a serious injury can feel paralyzing and many do not have the strength to pull themselves up off the mat.
While pulling through rehabilitation is a victory in itself, it does not guarantee the athlete will return to competition. The much expected doubters will begin to share their skepticism over your ability to recover and return to competition. What can be worse however is the doubt that will be cast over your ability. Should you manage to return, your ability to perform at the same level as before your injury will be scrutinized. This can be the hardest aspect to deal with, athletes are extremely pride-driven people and for many, their egos will not allow them to accept performing at an insufficient level. An athlete who loses self-confidence is as good as retired already.
So much has to be taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to fight to make a comeback or to give up. You have to consider family and financial stability seeing as how an athlete's lifespan is very short; and as vain as it may be, maintaining the lifestyle that has been established. However, the most difficult step will be resolving your inner conflicts. Can you live with being away from your passion or do you still love it enough to continue to fight for it? Every detail is as particular as the athletes themselves.
Although this will not have done much justice to those athletes actually dealing with long-term injuries, the hope remains that this will provide some insight to the skeptics and outsiders, in hopes that it will result in some empathy and appreciation for what these athletes go through. Athletes understand that not all will be fans of what they do, how much they get paid or the lavish lives some of them live, but speaking from experience, all we ask is that those who are on the outside looking in, simply attempt to understand.
Chris Pereira - "They say don't pull all your eggs in one basket, i"m just trying to put one egg in many baskets and see where it takes me" - Chris P.
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