A Blessing in Disguise

Two years ago, I started feeling twinges in my shoulder when I was at swim practice. I just wrote it off as normal wear and tear that a swimmer has after thirteen years in the pool, especially one that specializes in swimming butterfly. I would stretch my shoulder, and then get back in the pool to finish out the practice, stretching as the practice wore on. That winter, I let my shoulder rest by not swimming any. The next summer, after less than one week in the pool, I started feeling the twinges again, only this time they were accompanied by pain. Not willing to permanently injure myself, I went to the doctor to find a solution to the problem. I was diagnosed with tendonitis and told to rest my shoulder. That worked, for a few months. When tennis season rolled around, I started having pain and soreness all the time. I went back to the doctor and was sent to a specialist. The specialist told me I was out of tennis for the season. I was so upset because this had been the year that I was really looking forward to and excited about. I would have more experience and hopefully win more than one match. I still went to practices and to support the team at matches. Even though I could not play, something good did come out of it. By being able to listen to our coach’s instructions for all of the players, I think I have grown to appreciate playing. And I’ve also finally learned how to play doubles really well.