Sport Psychology of Athletic Injuries Introduction

As an athlete injuries are simply part of the sport that we love.  Our passion, commitment, and dedication are what drive us to give everything that we have in order to compete.  Day in and day out we continually work to achieve success.  There isn't a day that goes by that we don't think about our sport and reminisce about the moments that we spend with our teammates.  Often times athletes take all of this for granted.  We live in the moment and take each day as it comes.  The scary thing is we never know what practice tomorrow may bring.  Some days we can't wait to get out on the field and then there are other days where we dread the mere idea of what physically exhausting tasks we may encounter. Whether it be negative or positive our thoughts and our heart are always with the sport and we couldn't imagine life without it.  However, with the blink of an eye all of this can change and leave us in a blur of confusion and emptiness.  Our sport can be taken away from us at any moment and the culprit can be described in one word: injury.

My name is Shauna Happel and I am a Division I soccer player at the University of Northern Iowa.  Growing up all my life around athletics I have seen and encountered numerous injuries, but it wasn't until recently that the severity of my injuries have lead me to realize how important the mental aspect is in the injury rehab process.  I’m not sure if it was by fate or by chance that a couple days after I decided to write this blog I found out that I suffered a labral tear in my hip and would need surgery to repair it.  So now I see this blog as an opportunity to help out other athletes that may be going through the rehab process and finding it difficult to stay positive when faced with an injury.  I also, hope that this blog will open the eyes of all the people who may be involved with athletics spanning from the coaches, to the athletic trainers, and teammates.  It is so hard to imagine what a player is going through when they are sitting out with an injury until you are in that players shoes.  My goal is to give people an insight into what goes through an injured athletes mind and to help the affected athlete find the brightness at the end of the very dark tunnel of recovery.