My Professional Sports Career Ended Before It Started
Here is how I used it as fuel to transform into an elite athlete
There I was, age 20 and just received my rookie contract as a professional cricketer. My left knee decided it wants nothing to do with this sport and gave way beneath my 6’7” frame.
Months of rehab work followed without success, and I was cut from the team the following season.
Two years of rehab had passed and I was still unable to take the field. Next best option, a surgical procedure with a poor success rate. I refused.
Now, aged 22 and being unable to run I decided something had to change. I dove down the rabbit hole of strength and conditioning and found people using the modality to recover from severe joint injuries.
I became a follower of Ido Portal, Kelly Starrett and Mobility WOD. Now, fully immersed in improving my mobility through calisthenic exercise for 3 years, my knee became stronger. Or as Ido puts it, “wrapping your joints with exercise” instead of protective equipment.
Though, I never returned to professional sports I was able to achieve the following:
- Earn a Taekwon-do black-belt after stopping for 10 years. The art is filled with flying and spinning kicks.
- Win an amateur kickboxing fight.
- Do a full squat and walk (my knees couldn’t bend beyond 90-degrees before).
- Hold a 15 second handstand (I was terrified of being upside-down).
- Hold a 20 second L-sit.
The injury was a massive fork in my road as I had channeled all my life into cricket while neglecting everything else. This got compounded by my inability to recover.
I was however able to use this “bad thing” to become a more complete athlete and aid persons struggling to recover from injuries.
This story was previously published by me as an answer on Quora. Follow this link to see the post.
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