Life in Ohio is a lot different than life in West Clare, to say the least. Moving during the pandemic, freshly cleared from an ACL injury was not an ideal situation but it taught me so much. Coming to Akron created a sense of independence I never needed to have before. It wasn’t just not having your Mammy there to make your dinner and fold your clothes, I had to learn how to motivate and organise every aspect of my athletic and academic life in order to get myself situated.
The first few months were mostly a blur of practice, conditioning, zoom calls, and squeezing a nap in wherever possible. I found that not only did my body take time to adjust but the mental aspect of the student-athlete lifestyle took a toll also. It was crazy to look at my teammates and think that they’ve been doing this for years. I learned a lot from my teammates and coaches’ experience to get me through that first semester of freshman year. Knowing that soon, conditioning wouldn’t kill, plays would become easier to remember and the stress of school would die down was reassuring and comforting to know.
Once I got a grasp on everything, games began. Being on the road, masked up, socially distanced on the bus was definitely a weird experience looking at how we work on the road this season. I think having to completely rely on our own energy within the team, with little to no fans or spectators allowed at games, taught us how important and infectious our attitudes are. To make each other better we needed to hold each other accountable and ensure we held ourselves to the highest standard. In practice, we push each other but pick each other up at the same time while learning how to effectively communicate within the team. I never understood the extent of this until I got injured.
Tearing an ACL once is awful but twice is heartbreaking. Being in the middle of our season and picking this injury up, I felt everything screech to a halt. The craziness of practice felt miles away. It’s very easy to slip into your own head and only think about the badness of it all. But I adapted the mindset, it wasn’t all out of my reach, I wasn’t completely out, I was right on the sideline, close enough to be involved as much as I decided I would be. My role on the team changed. If I was sulking about my injury, sitting on the bench thinking about me, that was only going to make me sad and infect my team with that energy. My coaches encouraged me to get in practice when I could pass the ball in drills, try and adapt things to suit what I could do.
Taking whatever I could from a bad situation allowed me to get through that year and stay motivated in rehab, being on the better side of it now has created so much strength and allowed me to look forward to this season and focus on what is to come.
A big thanks to Sabhbh for the piece. Sabhbh is current on a scholarship at Akron University in the United States. Best wishes to Sabhbh and Akron Zips with the upcoming season.
Sabhbh is a previous podcast guest and you can listen to her episode below.
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