Injuries suck. I have been injured thousands of times. My body has experienced damage of all intensities, from a simple cramp up to dislocating my jaw, but this temporary wounds never stopped me, at least in my tournaments, until now.
Before I continue, I want to tell you a story that happened just some months ago so that you know that I am a warrior while playing water polo and that I don’t give up easily. It was my second game at the world cup, Peru- Serbia, a tough game for us. At the first quarter, I got my jaw dislocated, intense pain ran through my whole body, but I was able to keep strong. A few minutes after, Serbia scores, I went to ask my coach if I could rest a second because the pain was immense. My coach, a warrior as well, without noticing the intensity of the pain, told me that I was needed in the game and that I could not go out, I had to be brave. At this moment I didn’t know that my jaw was dislocated, so I did like I was told, keep strong and play hard. When the game finished, my physiotherapist took a look at me and realized that my jaw was dislocated. Instantly he fixed it, there was a moment of extreme pain, but as time passed, the pain lowered and lowered.
This experience made changed the way I saw myself, from now on, I was invincible. I forgot something important, I am a human and human most of the time are not invincible.
This past weekend, I was playing a water polo tournament in Lima, Peru and we were doing great. We beat Uruguay 12-6 and in the semifinals lost vs. a division 1 Spain club by just 5 goals, which is a good score for Peru. I was happy, but my body wasn’t. I hadn’t prepared, as I should due to some internal federal problems and this affected me negatively.
After the game with Spain, I could not walk. I tried, but failed; the pain was huge. I wanted to cry, but didn’t, honor is important for a waterpolo player. My team helped me get out of the pool, they helped me walk. I didn’t care about my body, all I cared at that moment was my next game, the game for the bronze medal.
I went to the hospital, to the emergency section with hope that a doctor could just put me some injections that will hold my pain momentarily so I could play. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, the doctor told me that I had a big inflammation in the cervical nerve; a nerve that connects my legs to my spine. He told me that if I played tomorrow and things got worse, there was a probability that I would have to stop playing for one year; this was serious. I told my coach, I would do what he told me to do, no matter what. This was not about me, but about my team and my country. Tony, m coach told me that the South American tournament in April were more important than this tournament and that I would not play the final game. We tied the game 3-3 and lost by penalties, I couldn’t believe my eyes. |
At that moment I realized that I was mortal, that I was a human like everyone around me and that I needed to go to see a sports doctor and definitely go to rehab. My next goal: The South American Tournament.