Gryphon athletes and how they have dealt with major physical setbacks
Written by Justin Dunk
Photo by Megan Verhey
Most of us have witnessed one at some point while watching a sporting event, be it in person or on television, a serious injury can silence any arena. Normally the player is attended to by medical staff and if the injury is deemed a serious degree the athlete is carried off by teammates or rides the stretcher off the playing surface.
“If you get through your career without an injury you’re the exception,” said Certified Athletic Therapist and owner of Basic Motion Therapy services, Marya Morrison.
Politely, fans, teammates and competitors clap as the injured player makes their way to the locker or dressing room, but what happens behind closed doors and away from the game in order for athletes to be able to recover and return to full health?
“You do a basic assessment to understand exactly where in the stage of healing and injury process that the athlete’s in,” said Morrison. “Assessing what they’re able to do and talking about what their goals short term and long term are. Try to explain to them typically what happens in the rehab process of whatever injury they have.”
How do athletes deal with having their physical capabilities taken away from the after suffering a serious injury?
“I knew what had happened. I was in so much pain,” said fourth-year Gryphon basketball team member, Jonathan Moscatelli.
The Guelph guard has torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) not once, but two separate times.
“Mentally that was just really devastating. After one surgery many, many athletes have come back from that,” said Moscatelli. “I tried to stay positive, but after two surgeries, two full ACL tears I was really wondering if I could come back to my full potential, that was pretty hard mentally.”
Injuries, we see them all the time throughout many levels of sport.
“It was pretty devastating to say the least. It took a lot out of me to try and get back on the field,” said former Gryphon receiver, Dave Mckoy.
Mckoy suffered his first ACL tear in 2004. The injury did not even occur during contact, Mckoy made a quick cut while returning a kick for Guelph and his ACL was gone. He fully recovered to have a great 2006 OUA season for Guelph. Leading the conference in receiving with 858 yards and eight touchdowns.
“It’s never really fully recovered until two years after the actual injury. I didn’t really feel comfortable again until [2006],” said Mckoy.
His strong senior season got him recognized by pro scouts and he was drafted with the ninth pick overall, by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in the 2007 CFL Canadian draft.
“Halfway through [his first CFL] season on special teams I tear my left ACL. It was just a sudden plant and twist of the body and it went,” said Mckoy. “This recent ACL which I am still rehabbing from for four years now has been a particular problem.”
Mckoy has torn both ACL’s once, the second ACL tear led to him being released from the Roughriders just before the 2010 CFL season was set to kick off. Currently, the talented receiver is trying to make it back into the league.
“I know if I don’t try everything I will regret it. I will regret not taking that chance. “That’s what keeps me driving to try and get back,” said Mckoy. “When I was released I was told by the GM that it’s not a talent thing. They kept me on the roster for pretty much two seasons in hopes that I would get healthy.”
Injuries are a factor that every organized sports team must deal with. However, until an athlete suffers a serious injury, with a lengthy rehab and recovery period, they never fully understand how impactful the setback can be.
“It made me appreciate the game of basketball,” said Moscatelli. “I guess I took it for granted. You never really think of how lucky you are, knowing those privileges are taken away from you and everything changes. I changed my whole lifestyle because it was my life.”
Obviously, for any athlete the body and physical well-being is key to performing in any athletic endeavour.
Gryphon women’s volleyball team member, Kaitlyn Krizmanich, tore her ACL after attempting to spike the ball in practice.
“I came down on my right leg and then my leg went one way and I went the other way,” said Krizmanich. “I felt the two bones shift and that’s how it happened.”
The left-side hitter was able to have surgery on Dec. 7, 2010.
“They take a piece of your hamstring from the same leg and they make that your new ACL,” said Krizmanich. “I was just wanting to get [surgery] over with.”
Many athletes fear after suffering a serious injury that they might never get back to the playing level they so desire.
“After the second one when I was told that my knee wouldn’t be fully 100 per cent or that I’d be able to get back to the level I was playing at, then that’s when I got worried scared and didn’t have much confidence,” said Moscatelli. “I was definitely thinking was it my time to quit, was it my time to stop basketball.”
“When you work that hard to get to where you want to be and you’re there and then you have an injury like that it can be pretty demoralizing,” said Mckoy.
The injury rehab process can be a long, painful journey to work an athlete’s body back to full health.
“The first two or three weeks are the most annoying ones,” said Moscatelli. “Just sitting in bed trying to get the swelling out of the knee. You have to ice every hour and just getting up from the couch or the bed hurts a lot because of all the blood going down the leg. Then there’s all the staples and everything.”
University and elite level athletes are used to working out their bodies in some sort of physical manner almost everyday. Taking away the ability to function physically is like taking a pen or keyboard away from a writer, it puts them outside their comfort zone.
“I [couldn’t] do anything physically. You just feel your cardio going down,” said Moscatelli. “Especially being an athlete at a high level, you’re always used to doing something everyday and now I’m sitting on the couch doing nothing. It’s pretty tough mentally.”
Obviously the psyche of athletes is a little bit different than the general public,” said Morrison.”
Rehab is often talked about surrounding many injuries, but what is it that goes into this crucial part of the recovery process? Well it depends largely on the part of the body that is injured, rehab as they call it is the baby steps athletes take on the path to full health.
“Their physical ability and strength going into the injury, it gives you a good base of how they are going to rehab after that,” said Morrison. “Someone that gets injured that has a lot of weakness in an area or a lack of range of motion and that might have been what might of made them more susceptible to an injury.”
Precious time spent in the physiotherapy room, away from the playing surface, games, teammates and fans, can be trying on an athletes psyche.
“Getting back the movement and flexibility are pretty painful,” said Moscatelli. “It’s really important to get rid of the scar tissue to be able to get full range.”
Returning an injured body part to full health doesn’t just happen from sitting around and waiting for the injury to heal allowing the athlete to jump right back into action.
It’s pretty much the worst pain ever,” said Moscatelli. “Your leg is almost like a piece of wood and to break all the scar tissue to get it to bend you have to go through a lot of suffering. Sometimes I just wanted to quit and not listen to anyone.”
In order to help rehabbing athletes keep positive, definitive results can show how well the rehab process is coming along.
“People like to have a certain tangible scale of things that they can see,” said Morrison. “It’s good to be able to show them actual numbers of range of motion that they’ve regained or strength that they’ve regained.”
Every rehab process is individual to each athlete, but the pain is often worth it in the end as athletes start to see positive results during the rehab process.
“Whenever I see athletes that I’ve helped back on the field or back on the court, they’re always very appreciative of the time that you spent with them,” said Morrison. “You do send them off hoping to never see them back in the clinic again.”
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