Student athletes grapple with challenges, adversity of overcoming injury
A testament to unwavering determination, resilience, and passion. Physically, coming back from an injury as an athlete, the rehabilitation process is long and grueling. Mentally, athletes are faced with fear of re-injury, frustration of not being up to par, and isolation from their team’s success. Junior Maddie Rasmussen knows it all too well in her experiences on the hard court.
“I’ve really had knee issues my whole high school career,” she said. “I had knee surgery in the summer of my freshman year, and winter of sophomore year.”
Although being forced to take time off of playing the sport she loves, Rasmussen put forth the effort and came back stronger and has dominated the court since. This year, in conference games alone, she averaged nine points, five rebounds, and three steals while starting on varsity. However, Rasmussen's season was cut short when she was faced with another challenge.
“I recently found out I have to get another surgery on my knee this winter to correct the previous one,” she said.
Despite having to redo the process, Rasmussen continues to stay positive and persevere.
“I definitely gained a new perspective on life in general,” she said. “Instead of being on the court, I’m watching from the sideline and there’s so many different things I didn’t notice before. I kind of have this new mindset that I can get through anything.”
Like Rasmussen, senior Jeevan Ambati has struggled with sport-ending injuries. Halfway through this year’s football season, Ambati’s life flipped upside down.
“It was during the homecoming game, September 29,” he said. “I came around the right side of the field and I got taken out from below. I went to put my hand down to catch myself, but the ground wasn’t as close as I thought and my elbow went out right away. It ended up dislocating it.”
After realizing what had happened, Ambati was faced with an extensive battle of hard work and determination. Regardless of his high spirits and mental strength, some things simply cannot be restored.
“I think the biggest upset was not finishing my senior season and not playing Oshkosh North,” he said. “That was probably the most painful part of it, hearing that I was going to be out for the rest of the season.”
While Ambati has since made a huge dent in his recovery, senior Braelee Jodarski is just starting to attack her very own head-on. Jodarski was on top of the world at the beginning of this school year after coming off a 17-3 winning softball season and committing to Winona State to continue her journey. This winter, she looked forward to playing her last season of Wildcat basketball, but was instead faced with an injury during a game at Appleton West in December.
“I have a torn ACL and torn lateral and medial meniscus,” she said. “The pain associated with physical therapy and rehab has been difficult because it’s such a long journey that takes a lot of dedication and hard work to come back from.”
The process of rehabilitation is one not meant for the weak of spirit. Along with physical strength, mental courage plays a huge role.
“It’s mentally challenging because you lose motivation for some things, and you have to work to stay connected to friends and teachers when there are up and down days,” Jodarski said.
Along with loss of motivation, anxiety over one’s injury arises.
“Part of it is the early worries,” trainer Dan Gehri said. “If it’s a serious injury and they’re going to be out for a long time, there’s a lot of sadness. A lot of anger over not being able to participate, not being with their team.”
Sometimes the bad outweighs the good, and a lack of motivation takes over the recovery process. It’s all about how one responds.
“Everyone is different in their response,” Gehri said. “Some people really take it in stride and work hard to get back and be better. Some people, unfortunately, view it as an opportunity to cut back and be lazy and take time off. It really depends on the person and their drive and how they deal with an injury.”
To tackle this mental battle, the trainers at West have come up with their own solutions.
“We do our best really to try to address it and keep the athletes engaged and involved with their teammates,” Gehri said. “Instead of riding the exercise bike in the trainer's room, we’ll roll it out into the gym so that they are with their team when they’re rehabbing.”
For Ambati, these fixes were very beneficial in his comeback.
“I was able to use zero hour strength to do my elbow rehab, which helped a lot,” he said. “It allowed me to get back to lifting.”
Even after a long road of recovery, self-doubt still reeks havoc.
“It’s really hard to get back to trusting yourself,” Rasmussen said. “I feel like after everything that has happened, it’s hard to accept that my body isn’t the same and I can’t trust it like I used to.”
After being injured for so long, it takes a special kind of perseverance to get back in the game. Battling the rough and intense task of a slow incline doubled with immense amounts of physical therapy can take a toll on one’s mind.
“I wish I knew how tough it would be,” Rasmussen said. “I thought it was going to be like a piece of cake. I couldn’t walk for six weeks and then I had to wear a brace for three months. Everything went very leisurely and it eventually overtook my life.”
There’s only so much that can be done to try and prevent injuries like these. Being aware of the risks and doing as much as possible to keep up with the strain an athlete puts on their body can be the toughest part to accept, but it’s all about response and outcome.
“I did a lot of precautionary strength training to help prevent it, but in the end, as much as I wanted to prevent it, there’s a reason it happened and it’s only going to make me stronger,” Jodarski said.
No one can predict an injury, a life lesson to be learned by all. And when a challenge strikes, only the toughest prevail.
“The journey is never a steady incline,” Jodarski said. “There are deep valleys and high peaks, and it’s okay to feel whatever emotions you are feeling.”
by Makenna Freund
Published on January 29 2024
Oshkosh West Index volume 120 issue IV