I love the phrase “weekend warrior.” I love it because it most aptly describes a class of people to whom I might belong, even though I am more the “weekend worrier” type. Like many, I have a regular workout regime consisting of running, elliptical and stationary bicycle. I try to keep myself in relatively good condition. While I had a very brief and unfortunate trial run with pickleball, I generally keep to individual sports that permit me to workout as hard or easy as I would like. Yet, there are times when I have tried other sports at this ripe old age of 59. A few years ago I joined a softball league for people “my age.” I quickly heard that it is referred to by the younger leagues as the “hamstring league” because of the number of people who pull a hamstring running from home to first base. It was in this league that I discovered that my chronological age did not match up with my psychological age. That is to say, my body cannot do what I thought it could. My legs often going in different directions from my torso, leaving me wondering how I got certain bruises and injuries. I had become a “weekend warrior” which became a weekday healer.
Growing up injuries were a status symbol. Sprained ankles, broken arms, pulled muscles were a sign of playing hard. Stitches were the marker of the real competitor and the recoveries were sometimes long and difficult. Time off, time on the bench seemed like forever. That is why I am amazed when a hockey player takes a puck going 90 mph to the face, is rushed off the ice holding his teeth in his hand, a towel to his jaw, is stitched up in the locker room and is back on the ice, sometimes before the period ends.
I particularly like that in football they don’t even bother taking the player back to the locker room. They just bring the little blue tent to them so as not to waste any unnecessary time on meaningless injuries. If it were up to me and I was playing football, I would just start in the tent. I don’t understand given the hits these athletes take, I don’t know how they ever get up. Many, later in life, have difficulty walking. Of course it is incredibly scary when the cart has to come out to take a player off the field or even worse when an ambulance is called. Any one who was alive on January 2, 2023 remembers Damar Hamilin’s cardiac arrest on the field after sustaining a hit to the chest.
There are all types of injuries that take place. Who can forget Lawrence Taylor breaking Joe Theisman’s leg. (You got to see this video.) The announcers actually said, “Joe Theisman, who I am sure has played his last play,” taught us that there career ending injuries. We know there is a continuum of life ending injuries to broken nails and everything in between. We have seen baseball players hurting their big toe and are out for a month and concussed players who want right back into the game.
Every sport that is monitored does everything in its power to minimize damage. Even sports where the intent is to hurt the opponent has guidelines to reduce the long term and short term effects of competition. All of sport is about maximizing output, achievement and shrinking the risk. Nobody gets into a bobsled going 90 mph thinking they can hit a wall at top speed and die. No athlete thinks they are going to get hit in the head with a baseball going over 100 mph. Yet it happens.
It is the professional athlete who takes the risk over and over again. Today, because of the nature of medicine and understanding about the human body, athletes will often endure the injury and are able to get right back out there. Because of what we know about how the body heals, athletes are able to recover better and faster. And because of science we know when a player has had enough, even if they don’t think so.
It is this last category that amazes me most. I am confounded by the athlete who despite everything everyone is telling them still wants to and in some cases is able to get back out there. Career ending injuries become just another hurdle for the athlete to overcome. Joe Theisman never came back to the game. Damar Hamlin was back on the field by the next season. In some cases that has more to do with mentality than with physician ability.
Athletes have built into their contracts “injury clauses” just in case they get hurt. Yet some push themselves harder and further for the love of the game, for the accolades and for the money. We watch and hope that certain athletes will “hang up the gloves,” “throw in the towel,” retire because we think they are just the shell of who they once were. While other times we wish they would come back for one more season.
Each sport issues lists of players that will not be suiting up for any particular event. There are actually rules how long some must be on the “disabled list” before they are permitted to return. This list anticipates how long a player will be unavailable so that the organization can decide to wait for the player to return or bring someone else in to fill his/her spot. Again, because of science many analysts can figure out how long it will take for a player to recover and rehab. Again, because of technology those time periods have shrunken. Technology like electronic stimulation and techniques in physical therapy have seen miraculous returns. However, there is still the variable of drive.
How much a player wants to come back and when they have simply had enough is really only something the individual along with their family and management team can decide. That is how the world works. That is life in a nutshell. One of my favorite thoughts comes from the serenity prayer. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” Meanwhile I’m still going to keep on playing softball on the weekends.