To most athletes, sports take up a huge chunk of their world. They put time, effort, and sweat into their sports. So, the inability to participate or the realization that their athletic ability is faltering is devastating. Many athletes experience the physical and mental pain of a sports injury sometime in their career, but by recovering from it, they can see themselves back doing what they love.

Soccer requires a lot from athletes, something athlete Emma Bunk knows extremely well. However, Bunk was no longer able to play on the field due to an ACL injury. 

“My performance definitely got worse afterwards because of the injury and because I was worried I would hurt myself again.”

Seeing her teammates play without her in a sport she held dearly was torturous and hit her just as hard as the actual injury. The injury was physical because it prevented her from playing. Surprisingly, it was emotional as well, attacking her morale and keeping her pessimistic about how she would recover. To Bunk, the first step of recovery became clear thanks to her family.

 “My parents and sister helped me through it. This is not the first time the injury had been in my family, so I knew it would get better but, it was still terrifying thinking something like this would happen again,” Bunk elaborated. “Having my sister definitely helped me overcome it and helped me be patient when it got tiring waiting to be able to get back on the field, especially after missing a season.”

In order to recover physically, an athlete needs to be in a good place emotionally. Without that, they are unable to take care of themselves enough to be healthy and get back on the field ready to perform. That’s why Bunk’s first recovery step is to never go through it alone and be with people who care, whether it is the team who has been there through each other’s highs and lows or friends and family who will be supportive through it all.

Bunk also has another piece of advice for athletes, leading to recovery step two: being patient and giving themselves healthy time needed to get better, because healing is impossible when they are pushing themselves harder than ready for or mourning the time passing by that is spent on the sidelines.

“Patience was important to the recovery. It was hard to be patient when my injury was so intense and I wanted to just rush into the sport,” Bunk assured.

Patience is beneficial after athletes can take a step on the field. Injury leaves a player broken, either from a physical change or loss of experience, so they can’t just rush in because doing so would only result in more pain and an injury that could be even worse. Therefore, the third recovery step is taking time post-injury to make sure they are healthy enough to perform.

 “It changed me as a player so I would do better and not get hurt again, which was something I was worried about.”

While soccer can be demanding, so can many other sports, such as volleyball, the sport of athlete Lauryn Mason. As a hard worker on the court, Mason gave her all to what she loved but pushed herself past her limits, which unfortunately resulted in rib inflammation. This injury took a toll on her, forcing her to endure something no one would want to face.

“I tried to play through my injury for as long as possible because I didn’t know who else would step up and I didn’t want to throw the team off. I was disappointed in myself for allowing myself to be overworked and falling back on my injury,” Mason sighed.

Injuries need time to heal, as well as effort. In an injury caused by overworking, crashing and burning is impending if pushed too hard afterwards. For Mason, her step to recovery was the simple remedy of rest and relaxation.

“No matter how much you care about your team, don’t play during an injury because it’s just gonna get worse.”