The phrases “You can’t play” or “You’re out for the rest of the season” are the last words hard-working athletes want to hear during their season. Injuries are always a difficult part of participating in sports, and being told you can’t do what you love is heartbreaking for any athlete to hear.
Athletes at all levels, from amateurs to professionals, experience such difficulties, some of which are career ending.
Sports injuries not only affect the physical wellbeing of athletes, but their mental health as well. Meridan’s Athletic Trainer Vicki Galliher, “Coach G,” examines athletes with sports injuries daily and recognizes their effect on an athlete’s mental health.
“It’s very difficult to tell an athlete they cannot play due to injury … It is challenging because it involves delivering life-altering news to someone whose identity is closely tied to their sport,” Coach G noted. “Sports Medicine specialists must navigate the athlete’s emotional reaction, which often includes denial, anger, bargaining, and sadness.”
Junior Wrestler JoJo Cummings sustained an ACL tear during her season that required surgical repair. She noted how difficult it was not being able to participate in practices and meets.
“[The most difficult part was] being restricted by my recovery time, and watching my teammates go through so much in the rest of the season.”
Cummings also explained that while she was injured and sitting on the sidelines, she felt separated from the team.
“It’s just a bittersweet feeling supporting them as more of an onlooker than a teammate, it felt like I wasn’t really a part of the team anymore.”
The injuries served as a constant reminder of all of the things that Cummings couldn’t do.
“I hated the feeling of having a good day with my injury where I had minimal pain or stiffness, but having a tweak at some point in the day that reminded me of what I couldn’t do. It felt like my injury was ruling how I lived my life,” she explained.
Cummings’s situation was similar to junior basketball player Rose Weatherly, who sustained several injuries including concussions, seven ankle injuries (two breaks, five sprains), bone contusions and most recently achilles tendinitis.
“When people only focus on when I can come back to playing, I feel like my worth extends only to the basketball court and that I’m unappreciated for who I am outside of sports,” Weatherly noted. “Sometimes I just need a break and time to think through it myself without being asked, ‘When will you be back?’ 100 times.”
Both athletes recognized the dread they felt after they were injured.
“Because I’ve had so many injuries, my immediate reaction is the dread that comes from knowing what this feels like and what it means for my season.” Rose commented.
These injuries not only impact athletes, but affect their coaches as well.
“As a coach, an injury is one of our worst nightmares. If it is a serious injury, all we can do is try to comfort the player. There is nothing worse than watching a senior get injured and realizing that their career may be over in an instant,” Varsity Football Coach Patrick Anderson noted.
Missing a player affects both the chemistry of the team and how well a team performs during the season.
“From a gameplanning perspective, losing players is very challenging, because it can change our strategy for an upcoming game. For example, we didn’t have one of our top offensive players in our playoff game last season due to illness. It changed our entire strategy for what we felt we could accomplish offensively,” Anderson explained.
When an athlete experiences a serious injury what outsiders see might be a knee brace or crutches, but what is often overlooked is its impact on an athlete’s mental and emotional health.
“Everything seems to be a reminder of my injury and what I can’t do and I’m forced to focus on the parts of my life that aren’t sports related,” Rose Weatherly explained.
