Hi everyone,
After two months of writer’s block and all kinds of thoughts I decided to just sit down behind my computer and start typing. What do you write about when you are part of a situation you never expected to be in and not allowed to talk about. As many of you might noticed I wasn’t part of the Dutch National Team roster for the European Championships of 2017. Unfortunately the coaching staff found that I was not recovered enough from the foot surgery I had to go through, so I was sent home.
How did I get to that surgery…? Well, I stepped in a freaking skewer…. and no not at a party, a BBQ or anything fancy. I stepped in a skewer in my own home while walking from my bed to the kitchen block (which is like 3 meters in my student home).
Now I hear y’alls brain going.. but why surgery, just pull the thing out. Well that is what I did, or at least I thought I did.
It all happened on a Friday morning and so I needed to get ready for the Saturday games. I pulled the skewer out of my foot, put some disinfection on it and went to the University. I couldn’t walk normally on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pitch right?! So there we went, 7 innings in the first game and then 2 more to close the second game. It did hurt, a bit, quite a bit, okay a lot… and on Sunday my foot would not really fit in a shoe anymore. Time for a doctor’s visit.
Ten days and two types of antibiotics later it turned out on an echo there was still a 1,5 cm wooden piece in my foot and it was pushed all the way to the tendon… That explained the pain during the game…!
A few days later I had surgery and then the recovery started… A 6 cm scar is now proudly sitting on my foot.
The scar reminds me of how quickly something can change and of a summer I will never forget. It turns out that you probably learn more from fighting and going through hard times than having an easy road. I can’t talk about all that happened during and after all this but let me say this: You can try to hit me in the back, but I won’t turn around, I know where I am going. The best quote about this all: Stick to it.
What’s next? Well, we just won the European Cup Winners Cup with my club team Olympia and we are still on the hunt for the National Title in a few weeks. The National Team program is still in a transition to a fulltime program. And then I just started my Master’s degree in High Performance Coaching. So after a not so easy summer things are looking good and exciting. The blog is back, the smile is back, so let’s get it all going!
Today we play Sparks in the last round of the regular season, the finals of the Men's Supercup are played and Roef! and Tex Town Tigers are fighting for the last play-off spot. An exciting day of softball in the Netherlands!
Eva