I haven’t really had any difficult conversations recently, but there is one conversation that I found really hard to help with an athlete. I have a baseball player at the moment that has tweaked his hamstring a couple of weeks back. He is able to participate during games, but he is limited in practice when he starts to experience pain. We have him stretch, roll out, and keep his muscle warm while he sits out for a bit. He came up to me this past week talking about him not being able to participate for the whole practice. He explained to me that he felt not good about starting when he sometimes has to sit out during practice. I have been in his shoes before so I know exactly what he was feeling. I began with what exactly his injury is and how he has to take precautions during practice. His hamstring is kinda weak and still in the healing process, so I took time to explain how easy it would for him to reinjure the hamstring. I don’t think that really helped with how he feels, but at least he can have a firm grip as to why he needs to take it easy. He is an athlete that will actually listen to what we say, so I think he will be fine. I felt like this situation was difficult because I have been exactly where he was and it really is something that sticks in your mind. If this was a really serious issue it could prevent him from playing at his best or cause him to lose focus and reinjure himself. I’ve told athletes that their season is ended due to an injury or have been there that conversation, but it's so clear cut to the point where there is nothing to considered. This conversation really let me interact with an athlete with a personal experience of how I felt while playing. I feel like I handle the situation as best as I could, and I am not sure if there is anything else I should’ve said. I did make it clear that he absolutely needed to take it easy which I think is the biggest part of the conversation. Looking back on it, I never thought what should I say that I was taught in class, but more of how can I explain why it's important to do the things we tell him and how easy he could hurt himself more.
2 Comments
Beth Funkhouser
4/4/2019 04:37:06 pm
Title...but no content. Please check your publishing status for this.
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Beth
4/5/2019 08:03:09 am
Thanks for publishing this.
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