[BostonCard]

A while ago I spoke to a Stanford parent of a player (different team) whose son lost a year to injury.  The kid (now graduated) was a team leader but felt many of the same feelings of isolation, depression, etc. that Hodson felt, though not to the same degree.  It was a mixture of guilt at feeling like he let his team down, frustration at the slow progress of his healing, isolation that he couldn't participate in many team activities and that his fellow teammates struggled at the right way to correspond to an injured player, sadness that he wasn't with the team to witness its accomplishments.  Simply put, even under the best of circumstances, it is very difficult for an elite athlete, for whom the sport is a large part of their identity, to be injured for a prolonged period of time.

The good news is that this player did recover and got a redshirt year, did not get hurt again, and went on to be a star.  But of course, it doesn't happen for all.

BC

[BostonCard]

A while ago I spoke to a Stanford parent of a player (different team) whose son lost a year to injury.  The kid (now graduated) was a team leader but felt many of the same feelings of isolation, depression, etc. that Hodson felt, though not to the same degree.  It was a mixture of guilt at feeling like he let his team down, frustration at the slow progress of his healing, isolation that he couldn't participate in many team activities and that his fellow teammates struggled at the right way to correspond to an injured player, sadness that he wasn't with the team to witness its accomplishments.  Simply put, even under the best of circumstances, it is very difficult for an elite athlete, for whom the sport is a large part of their identity, to be injured for a prolonged period of time.

The good news is that this player did recover and got a redshirt year, did not get hurt again, and went on to be a star.  But of course, it doesn't happen for all.

BC