After training hard for months during the preseason, one simple injury is enough to end a whole season. People get injured everyday even just by simple things like walking down the stairs, but how do people overcome them to continue with their sport? Lots of injured athletes do physical therapy or surgery to try and heal, but how does it affect their mindset and determination? Multiple star athletes at Hutchison have experienced or currently have injuries pausing or ending their season. Tyler Jones, junior basketball player, tore her ACL and meniscus during an AAU basketball tournament. A lot of injuries are related to where it happens. Tyler is a basketball player and “the courts during the tournament had a lot of grip so there wasn’t much wiggle room.” Although she was hurt, she didn’t let that stop her. She had surgery on her knee and had to do months and months of physical therapy.  She is now back playing, better than ever, dominating the court.

Getting injured during your sports season not only affects your ability to play, it also affects your mental health. Suddenly not being around your team can leave an athlete feeling isolated. AJ believes even if you can’t play your sport you can still “try and stay as involved with your team by showing up and even just being a cheerleader.”  Although you can’t play, you can still be there for your team simply just by being there. Being injured can be really upsetting but just being there for your team and supporting them from the sidelines is something that you can do to feel involved. 

AJ Rucker, the trainer at Hutchison is working diligently to help girls have a fast recovery and continue getting stronger after they are healed. She talks about how even though “the healing process is relative to the injury, the best way to either speed up or do the best you can is just to show up.” The more work you put in to try and get better, the faster you will get better. Trying to prevent injuries is also something you can try to do. AJ encourages girls to put work into doing a good warmup. At Hutchison “we have a really good ACL warmup that most sports do.” Having a good warmup is helpful instead of just going straight into it.  Even if you do get injured during your season, all you can do is “just keep pushing.” -Tyler Jones.