Injured athletes renew love of the game

Matthew Manewal, BK '00, was unaware that he had torn his rotator cuff until he pitched his first inning of collegiate baseball for Yale. The pain during the game proved so great that he has not thrown a competitive pitch since. His injury resulted from just throwing too much: Manewal was tossing up to 186 pitches a game. Still recovering from reconstructive surgery that took place this May, he is unsure whether or not he will ever pitch again.

In the second practice of the season, soccer captain Jill Rubinstein, DC '98, was demonstrating a shooting drill to her teammates when she heard a crunch in her right knee. The next day she found out that she had torn her anterior cruciate ligament and would miss her entire senior year of play, just as she had missed the whole season during her senior year of high school due to the same injury.

Julia Tiernan/YH Volleyball captain Sarahliz Braugh, JE '99 works to strengthen her injured knee

When Keith McCullough, BR '99, separated his shoulder after being checked hard into the boards against Providence on Fri., Nov. 28, he immediately knew he would be compelled to miss his first game after playing seventy in a row for the men's ice hockey squad. Despite this, McCullough plans to return to action later this month.

Injuries are an unavoidable element of athletics at any level, and profuse amounts of courage and dedication are required for athletes to recover from them. This physical and emotional fortitude is exemplified by countless Bulldog players. In discussing their athletic careers, they reveal the profound effect that injuries have borne on their lives.

Rubinstein's attempt to come back from two ACL tears is extremely rare at any athletic level, including the professional ranks. Yet she continues her "painful, slow, and tedious" rehabilitation, planning to train in Bolivia this summer and play a final season for the Elis in 1998.

This season was Rubinstein's fourth on the soccer team; the process of redshirting will allow her to play a fifth next year. When athletes are injured, they may submit a petition to the NCAA requesting to forfeit that year of athletic eligibility due to injury. This allows them to play the following season to make up the time lost to injury. Braugh redshirted in 1996 and thus will wear an Eli uniform next fall. If Manewal cannot make it back this year he, also plans to redshirt this season to gain an extra year of eligibility.

Dr. Barry Goldberg, director of sports medicine at Yale, explained that rehabilitation from serious injury is often a disheartening process. "They [injured players] quickly realize that the therapist works with them, but the athlete is the one who works," he said. "When things go badly you have to roll up your sleeves and work harder. Sometimes you can't do it. You're not who you were before. You may work as hard as you can and still end up with no improvement."

Manewal agreed. "The plateaus you face in the rehabilitation process are really difficult," he said. "One week there will be so much progress and the next week there will be nothing--even a slight retraction. It's full of hills and valleys."

McCullough has only been in rehabilitation for a few days, yet he already describes this experience as somewhat traumatic. "I'm alone in the training room on the bike and all I can hear are the sounds of practice--whistles, yelling, people skating around. And I know I can't be out there; it's kind of like torture," he said.

Although one might surmise that the physical rigor of rehab is the most challenging aspect of suffering through an injury, athletes tell a different story. "I can deal with the rehab...that's all about setting manageable goals," Rubinstein said. "The hardest part is watching my team play without me--coming to practice every day and trying not to show my disappointment at not being able to compete. Not being able to be in there and help your teammates out on the field is by far the worst part of being injured."

"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" is a philosophy that seriously injured athletes are often compelled to adopt. Prolonged absence from sports seems to foster an increasingly optimistic attitude--the worse the injury, the more positive athletes must become. Jake Fuller, BR '00, running back for the football team was lucky: a severe quadricep contusion kept him from just two of the Eli games this season. When asked if he could derive any benefits from his comparatively minor leg injury, Fuller succinctly replied, "Absolutely not. All it brought was a bunch of pain and a bunch of trouble."

Julia Tiernan/YH Keith McCullough, BR '99, endures hours of rehab for his shoulder

The more seriously hurt players, however, had very different answers. "[The ACL tear] put things in perspective for me," Braugh said. "I remembered why I'm playing sports, why I'm putting all of this time in to recover. The injury forced me to make a decision. Now I know I definitely want to play volleyball. I don't take it for granted anymore, and that makes being out there all the sweeter." Rubinstein concurred. "I've realized that my happiest moments are on the soccer field," she said. "I'm not about to give that up.... It's frustrating to watch my teammates taking their health for granted. Hopefully seeing me there on the sidelines will be an effective message."

"I've learned how much I like pitching and baseball," Manewal remarked. "It's evident how much I miss it. I would be ecstatic if I could ever throw another pitch again."

McCullough, perhaps atypically for a less seriously injured player, also spoke of the perspective his injury has given him. "Time rarely goes by in the day when I'm not thinking about how lucky I've been not to have been injured before now and how much I love the game of hockey. I know people say I'm acting like it's the end of the world, but I've never had to deal with this before."

Dr. Goldberg commented, "Learning how to deal with hardship in an area of importance to your life, such as athletics is no different from the painter who can't get a painting right, or a writer who can't get a novel correct. Sometimes backing up for a while and taking a break is helpful... the athletic field is a microcosm of society--things don't always turn out well."

The devastating effects of serious sports injuries cannot be denied. Some players will never again experience the feeling of heading in a goal, pitching a shutout, or slamming a big rival against the boards. Still, wounded Bulldog athletes have clearly developed a heightened sense of respect for their sports. Every minute of every match they get to play takes on more meaning for them than ever before. Forced respite from competition sparks an important revelation in the mind of each injured athlete. Like the artist stepping back from his painting, they suddenly recognize a previously obscured beauty in their sport and their ability to play it. A deeper comprehension of the significance of health emerges. Love for sport irrepressibly flares up in the hearts of true athletes, spurring them on through arduous rehabilitation and hours watching on the sidelines.

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