Coming Back…

Somewhere along the line, everybody eventually gets injured. Whether it’s over-doing it during class, trying to hold out during a tournament, simply getting sick, playing tag with your young cousins, or just age, sooner or later, every athlete has to deal with injuries.

As everyone who reads this knows, I’ve been nursing a torn Hamstring. Thanks to Alex Lileika and New Rochelle Physical Therapy, I’ve managed to keep going on a limited basis (I could go harder, but decided to stop the “artificial hamstrings” that Alex creates before I got too accustomed to them.).

Two of my great friends have recently returned to full action. Their time away was brought on by different factors, but they did their best to keep themselves in the game.

ECU Fundamentals Instructor Eric Guido suffered an arm injury at a tournament in August. He later went on a trip to South America where he became ill. When he came home, he was immediately hospitalized. He’s slowly worked his way back, and is now ready to go.

ECU Head Kids' Instructor Anthony Vataj has had an even more convoluted path. Anthony slipped while playing tag with his cousins at a family party. He tried to keep training, but his doctors recommended that he take it easy. While he cut down on his own training, “Coach Vataj” arrived every day to teach the kids, even when he had to wear a boot.

While we all deal with injuries in our own way, it’s our friends who help us keep training.