If you read my first post this semester, you might remember that over the Winter break I sprained my ankle and had a cast up to my knee for almost 3 weeks. You might also remember that I had to wear an ankle brace, and the doctor prohibited me from playing soccer for at least two months. At that moment I thought life would never be the same…
I came to Richmond and out of fear listened to what the doctor told me. Fear that my ankle would get even worse and I would lose the privilege of playing soccer forever. I was wearing my brace 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week and making sure that my ankle didn’t suffer from any stress. I didn’t want to risk it. I didn’t even speedwalk for the first three weeks. Not even if I was late for class; not for my LIFE.
Days passed and the weather started getting nice on random days. These were the days when my facebook would collapse from the numerous messages sent to me by people asking if I wanted to play soccer with them. More than once I was tempted by ankle-spraining demons, but I could still hear my ankle crack. I could feel my ankle crack, painfully.
It wasn’t time yet. I resisted.
Time kept going by and I kept turning down offers to kick a soccer ball around, hoping that time would go by just a little faster. I knew that when the two months were gone I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I was going to take the first invitation to a pick-up soccer game as my opportunity to meet again with the sport that became my favorite since I was a year old. Gosh, I’ve been kicking a soccer ball since I was able to walk!
And that moment finally came. A couple of weeks after Spring break I got a text message asking me if I wanted to play soccer at the IM fields. I replied, literally: “hell yeah”.
I must admit, I was still a bit nervous about my ankle, so I started off as the goalkeeper.
I gained some confidence and started playing more often, dribbling past defenders and scoring goals with my right foot. Now that the weather is nice, more and more people are willing to play soccer. In the last week I’ve been part of 3 pick-up games. Considering that we are on finals week, this is quite a lot.
Now that I’m going home for almost 4 months, one of the things that I’m really looking forward to is playing soccer at least 5 times a week. Even though my ankle still hurts every now and then, I’m sure that if I keep using my ankle brace and continue with the rehab exercises I will be just fine. By the time I come back to Richmond I should be much better, ready to tryout for the team. =)
