The Injury Bug

Part of the reason we have been so successful the last few years is because we have avoided injuries. We've had players playing injured. Erica and Jayme played injured in 2008. Jessica played injured in 2009 and will continue to do so this season. Jayme and Maddie are joining Jess this year on the playing injured list. Actually, JTro has only played in part of 2 pre-season games and against Clemson. She is scheduled to join practice this week. We have not had a season ending injury since Elizabeth Bublis tore her ACL in the spring of 08. I can't remember the last season ending injury we had in a fall season.

We had one the other day. Emily Jones tore her ACL, LCL, and meniscus in practice. She went all out. I feel bad for Emily, and the team will miss her. She has been starting and improving every game and every practice.

At practice, I was making sure everyone was getting a chance to play in an exercise, and when I looked at the people who were sitting out, I had more injured players than I had substitutes. The injured players were Jayme Trocino, Emily Jones, Dani Stolt (IT Band), Sari Lin, (torn ligament in her ring finger knuckle), Megan Rock (back, pelvis, and hip problems), and Jamie Loftis (back pain). In the next game against Arkansas State, Erica left the game with a sprained ankle and possible torn ankle ligaments.

Could this be the year when injuries affect how successful we are? Injuries have affected some individuals over the years, but they have never affected the whole team. We're getting pretty close to that now.

I was worried over the summer, because I knew we had a lot of injuries that were preventing people from getting fit and preparing for the season - Jessica Rix, Jayme Trocino, Patience Whitten, Maddie Porter, and Lydia Wright - 5 seniors. A few days before report day, Megan Rock called me and said she was injured. Other than Megan, none of these injuries kept people from working hard during pre-season, so I was relieved and thought maybe we were more healthy than I thought. The more games we've played, and other players have picked up some injuries, the larger affect it is having on our team.

There are 2 positive things that could come of this. Maybe we start getting healthy and get everyone back at the right time. Maybe we have other players step up when given the opportunity in practice and in games. Actually, we will probably need both of those things to happen for us to reach our goal of winning the A-Sun.