12 Weeks… and I’m Back :)

For this “free” week, I figured I should follow up on the subject a couple of my past posts. That being, my injury. Yes, I was dramatic about it… but this post should justify all that drama, so bear with me!

So you guys all know that I sprained my ankle playing volleyball in late November, and that I was hoping to be back on the court by January. The recovery has proven to be slower than we expected, and I was worried about it maybe being a worse injury than we had originally thought (according to Google, I had a snapped tendon that would take six more months of recovery 🙂 ). As it turns out, the slow progress is just a result of the sprain being in the same spot I had some ankle-structure-and-bunion-fixing surgery on a few years ago. The scar tissue does not help the swelling, but it’s nothing to worry about, thank goodness! I was finally cleared to practice tentatively during the week of January 8th. No jumping yet, but it was a start. I did get to serve THREE WHOLE SERVES at the tournament we went to that weekend (and they were great, I might add 🙂 ) so that was exciting.

Throughout the following weeks, I grew stronger and more confident in my ankle’s stability. I began to jump again, but still tentatively. I was really worried about re-injury when I thought about going back to practice fully, but when I got on the court, my want to play overtook that fear and I got over it. Since then, I’ve been back full time. I’ve played multiple games with my team as the main setter, never subbing off the court. I am now preparing to go to Crossroads, a national qualifier, in two weeks! My progress has been quick and although my ankle still swells and hurts after practice, being able to play has served (haha, served) as enough motivation to stick my foot in an ice bucket, down a couple of Advils, and mostly ignore the pain.

So I’ve reached my resolutions! I will arrive at the tournament fully prepared and confident, at least with the way training has gone so far. I’m ecstatic to be back and I’m so glad I found the motivation to stop complaining about my circumstance and just move on in spite of it. My serves have become killer because there was a long time that I could do nothing at practice but stand there and serve… that was brutal. But I proved myself able to push through it all and come out on the other side stronger than I was!

See, I told you my dramatic posts would be justified!