Growing Pains

Today, I find myself again perched in the athletics center watching athletes complain about pains and getting the best treatment the college has to offer. Right away, I see a girl coming in noticeable limping. She cannot put any weight on her right leg, and her face looks solemn. A trainer carrying three bags of ice in her hands follows her over to the examining table, looking very stressed. The hurt athlete is wearing athletic clothes covered in sweat. She is wearing her hair in two braids down her back, and I noticed she is also holding ice at her hip. The trainer is wearing a crimson polo that says “Trainer” in the left-hand corner. I move closer to hear their conversation. The first thing I hear the trainer say is “You better get better and not be injured, otherwise coach is going to be mad at both of us”. She says this in a nonthreatening, somewhat comical way. The athlete then responds, “Yeah, I know, he wants me to keep practicing but I don’t know how to tell him I can’t even run”. Immediately, I understand that the girl must be really hurt, but she has an intense coach that is getting frustrated with both her and the trainer. The trainer starts working with a lot of complicated machinery, and attaches parts of the machine with patches to the girl’s back and hip.

“This should help, but it might make your muscles twitch a little bit.” She informs her.

“I just really hope I can go to Conference that way I don’t lose my spot on the travelling team” The athlete says worriedly.

“I don’t think you should get your hopes up, your hip hasn’t gotten any better this entire time. And if coach keeps making you run, it is not going to help at all”.

At this point, both of them look extremely frustrated. The mood changed very quickly from my point of view. At first they seemed like they were joking, but now they both seemed worried that the athlete was not going to be able to compete anymore. A few moments of silence passed between the two, while the trainer worked. Once the treatment was over, the athlete sat up on the table, and she looked very sad. She got up and started walking back and forth, testing her hip to see if it still hurt. It was obvious that she was still in a lot of pain, and was not going to be able to compete soon. Tears formed in her eyes, and the trainer gave her a huge hug, and tried to comfort her.

“You’re still a freshman, you have so many more opportunities to compete, what you do as a freshman doesn’t even matter.”

These words seemed to console the athlete a little. She was trying to pull herself together.

“I know, I just feel like I’ve worked so hard, and now I can’t finish.” She said with a sigh.

The trainer seemed at a loss with that comment, and she chose to remain silent, until the athlete was ready to leave.