What makes a good athlete?
Determination, perseverance, tenaciousness and gosh-darn stubbornness. It takes a person with a lot of want and need to struggle an injury and get back to being healthy again to finish out a season of their favorite sport or to even walk without using a cane or someones shoulder for support.
As you can see in the photo above, a cartoon shows an athletes need for MORE. You can see how tired he is, grunged up, has ripped clothing, and looks exhausted, but he still is reaching and sprawling for that last leg, that last ounce of energy. If it means winning a world title or even the self-satisfaction of victory, the determined athlete will do whatever it takes, even if it means amost killing themself to get the job done. Like I’ve said, it is determination that defines a great athlete.
That’s when you suddenly get injured, and its almost like life itself has come to an end. Sports has been apart of your life for so long, in the days of your boys and girls club basketball, and early saturday morning soccer games, what would life be like without it? So you observe your limited possibilities, but unfortunately, some don’t really allow you to recover faster than you wish or in time for the state championship game.
Professional athletes of all kinds get injured all the time, and how do you think they continue playing for their team? They too attend physical therapy, when needed, to improve their injuries so they can continue getting paid the big bucks. They have a contract to maintain and if they get injured seriously, that can’t be helped, they run the risk of no longer being apart of the team.
Physical therapy can help with you too. It may take a while, but it is the fastest, healthiest way to get your body to the strongest it can be. You want it done right, so you don’t have to face the possibility of getting injured again. It may take countless hours of stretches and therapeutic exercises and extra drops of sweat, but hey, who said the road to recovery was easy? It sometimes is not, but how harmless can it be and what is the worst that can happen.
If you find yourself injured, give it a try! It can only help you build yourself up so you can be that athlete you were born to be.
Sources:
gtalumni.org/news/ttopics/fall99/letters.html
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos080.htm
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/athlete
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