Curse of playing volleyball: broken blood vessels

Quick update: The knee held together all right last night, but after cooling down, hurt when I got home. Will ice and rest for a day and try it again. My playing was horrendous, but I think I was thinking about my knee too much.

However, I did leave the evening with a huge pain in the palm of my hand and on the outside of my right index finger. The result: broken blood vessels. There is not a night of volleyball that I do not encounter at least one. Certainly they look much worse than they feel, a huge dark purple bulge just under the skin. They hurt for a few minutes, and if you get hit there again, the pain comes back. But the morning after, they are just a mark without pain. Are my veins just weak? Maybe. I would like to think that I hit the ball incredibly hard, and my friends do the same. The broken vessels occur on one of two situations: a block or a hit.

The ones in the palm of my hand are usually the result of a block. Last night it was caused by a dig on a rather hard hit. I had enough time to drop my right arm to the ground, basically a reactionary dig, and not enough time to close my hand. The ball slapped directly into the middle, and instantly caused a huge purple spot. Three rallies later, and the pain was gone.

The index finger came on a slightly missed hit (which I had PLENTY last night). I had attempted to go line on a hit, and in order to get just a little more spin, hit the ball on the outside of my finger, which caused the explosion between the top and second knuckle. These are visually the worst: the top of the finger instantly turns purple and shoots pain down the hand. Kind of looks like you've really done damage to the finger... but a couple plays later you are fine.

It's something you get used to playing volleyball. And if that is the most I get hurt, then I'm all for breaking a couple blood vessels every now and again.

- Tom.

The Dreaded ACL: my nightmare

The idea behind this blog came to me just a few days back. Late last week I felt a sharp pain on the outside of my left knee any time that I put pressure on my leg. Walking hurt, standing hurt, laying on my side in bed hurt. The pain grew over the weekend, as did some swelling, despite bags of ice. I tried to think over the past week, of somewhere I might have banged the knee on something, hoping it was just bruised. I had played volleyball on Tuesday and Wednesday, and landed awkwardly one night, my arm getting bruised the next evening. It must have been Tuesday.

Ever since my high school days, I have feared knee injuries. I have a condition where the two large legs bones scrape the inside of my kneecap, so when I crouch down and come up, you hear cracking the whole way. My mom's knees would do this walking up stairs. The simple thought of this, creeps me to no end, and even right now typing this, I'm getting a little queasy. Then I saw a knee injury, the one where the patella tendon snaps, and the knee cap go sliding into the thigh... okay, I'm done with the descriptions. You might be shivering yourself now. Anyway, I fear the knee injury, and the most common is the ACL.

My senior year of high school I was told I had patella tendinitis, which made the tendon over the top of my knee sore. That makes it difficult to jump, but with some time and ice, things got better. Then in college, I strained my ACL and LCL, two of the four tendons that hold the knee together. For six weeks I was forced to wear a leg immobilizer, could not run, jump or walk on my left leg, for fear that any of the tendons would snap (which results in 10 to 12 months of rehab). This proved to be one of the reasons I ended my college career just a few short months later. I was prescribed 4 ibuprofen a day for the pain, for six weeks. It was a sharp localized pain on the inside of the knee from the cap to the back, every time I put pressure on the knee, and the more pressure applied, the more pain. The amount of force to propel a 150-pound object about six-and-a-half feet in the air, is enormous, and your knee takes all of that force.

That pain came back last week. Over the past few years I had general soreness in the knees, just as everyone does, but this was a pain I had not felt in about 15 years. Other pains and injuries I would shrug off... but knee pain, especially sharp pain, makes me stop.

After five days of ice and no activity, the sharp pain has subsided. I noticed a large bruise on my other knee, which has garnered my attention at this moment. So with that, I'm willing to test the knee tonight at volleyball. This week begins the long stretch of summer athletics, better to test it now and see how it responds.

- Tom.

Batting lead off, playing third...

Blame it on my undergraduate degree (creative writing). Blame it on my ability to ramble for hours on random thoughts (hence starting a blog). Blame it on nearly three decades of participation in athletics (I'm only 33). The combination of which has lead me to create a blog on athletics. Not specifically my random thoughts on a particular team, city or sport (though Chicago sports will most likely take precedence if I do), but more so of the thoughts of an aging athlete, trying to hold on to those last glory days of recreational sports leagues.

My background in athletics is long, with moderate success. My father was a high school coach (now small college recruiter and coach) in track and cross country. Incredibly successful as a coach, and as a collegiate swimmer. He coached middle school basketball. It 'runs' in the family. I enjoyed a very successful career as a high jumper: All-State in Illinois, competing for a short time in the Big Ten. And really, I can only think of one sport I have not been able to play with a great amount of success. I cannot swim. Of all the sports... to have a father go to college and swim, I cannot hold my breath underwater without holding my nose. Never could. It's never been said, but how big of a disappointment must that be, to be a great swimmer, and have a son who has the body of a swimmer, not be able to swim. I can certainly play water sports (skiing, wake board... I can back stroke well), but cannot go underwater.

Any other sport... with a little practice, I can play it well. However as I slowly exit from my prime years, I focus on just a few recreational leagues with people my age, no longer able to play at the speed of high school and college kids.

And this is what this blog is about. A semi-successful former athlete, nearing the age of retirement. Everyone who plays in some league here or there has or will reach the point in their lives where it takes a little more time to warm up, takes a few more bags of ice after the game, might be a step too late getting to third, or a few inches too short on the jump shot. And for anyone who has seen some level of success, it is hard to take.

And that's what I'm going to celebrate.

- Tom.