Long Summer Ahead!

2011 West Linn high school JV2 girls soccer team. 

Haven’t written a post in 3 weeks, oops! Not all that much has happened in the last three weeks though, just school, homework and finalsJ.  Finally that’s all over and the start of my summer is here! But as far as physically and mentally this will most likely be the toughest summer of my life. I currently still not fully over the Mono I came down with 10 weeks ago. This is the most frustrating of all. I know that mono can last anywhere from a few weeks to months. That’s what frustrates me; I need to recover from mono soon if I have any chance of playing soccer by the end of summer! The mono as left me feeling extremely fatigued with a very weak immune system, I currently am getting over my third cold in the past month. At this point I am starting to look for answers on what I should do as a player, I have asked a few people and no one seems to know anything. I’m not fit at all; I had to run a mile in wellness class last week and after running just a quarter of the mile I felt like I was going to pass out. So rather than just sit around and wait till I’m fully recovered I have decided that I need to push myself and get back to the gym and just go and kick the ball around when I feel well enough to. I am aware that this plan a totally backfire on me and I could end up feeling worse, but the least I can do is try!

The one other goal I do have for this summer is to act more like a kid. The past year of my life has stopped me from doing that and put a lot of unneeded stress on me. Last year around this time last year one of my family’s closets friends passed away. That was the real start of all the stress for me. Then a few months later after the start of my soccer season all the sickness, benign heart murmur, headaches and back pain started. Doctor after doctor and a lot of this still hasn’t been figured out yet. While I thought I was getting better in February, in March my dad had is heart attack and surgery then I dislocated my knee for the third time. Then yet again I got sick in early April with Mono. Honestly sometimes I feel as if I am going crazy!! Yes throughout all this I have a lot of fun but sometimes I do wish I was just a bit for of a kid, not having so much stress and having to be so mature. This summer my goal is to have fun with what I’m doing, if I don’t reach my goal of playing at my high school I do have a coed league I could join, as much as I do don’t want to do that my goal is to play at the highest level I possibly can and if coed is the highest I can play at, then I will have to except it. I also want to be able to hang out with friends like any other teenager, and learn to drive, something I have had no time for! My friends are very supportive of me and are trying to help me reach my soccer dreams too.

In my last two posts I talked about informing my high school coaches and the athletic director about what’s going on and trying to find a role on a team, that’s still in the works. My parents are busy people tooJ. They having given me great advice on this and we have decided to go to the athletic director for advice but then go to the head coach and have me explain all that’s going on medically and help the coaches understand my Cerebral Palsy better. I need to let them know that I am very passionate about the game of soccer and that I’ve just got a few things get in my way, if they give me the chance I’ll work as hard as anyone else on the field, while I might not be in the best shape or even have the best skill I am still willing to fight for my place on a team. I have the whole summer to decide how I am going to help coaches understand but right now I need to just get over this nasty mono and start to being to get some strength back and most of all enjoy my only summer as a 16 year old J.

* Today, after finishing up my post I have decided with still getting over a cold should just kick the ball around a little and go for a short walk/jog rather than push myself too hard at the gym. This probably wasn’t the most interesting post but I felt that I needed to explain what’s going on. I’ll try to keep doing bi-weekly blog posts if possible about my progress with fitness, recovery and contacting the coach at my high school. Yes, I know I have a long road ahead of me, but I'm not giving up yet!