30 SportsUnion | MAY 2019
college
Softball
Every athlete understands
that injuries are part of the
game - but it still doesn’t
make it easy. Some injuries
are harder to comer back
from than others. Some of
the injuries could be career
threatening, and end some-
thing that never started.
By Matt Ondesko
Managing Editor
It’s never easy coming back
from an injury. Physically you
can do all the rehab that you
need to do to get yourself as
close to 100 percent as you
were before. But, sometimes
the biggest hurdle is the men-
tal side of the game.
On the surface you tell peo-
ple that you are fine. That you
will be back to normal in a
few weeks or months. Men-
tally, you are a wreck. It seems
like you are thinking about
the next injury, the next step.
The what if’s creep in. What
if I step the wrong way? What
is I reinsure myself, then
what?
It’s more of a mental game
than anything else. You want
to get back to your normal
self and help out your team-
mates. This is the type of per-
son, player, that you are.
Brockport softball player
Machala Andrews knows all
too well what it’s like to bat-
tle the injury bug. The rising
junior has had to deal with a
bad hip for sometime and it
derailed her first season with
the Golden Eagles even be-
fore it got started.
“Since my senior year of
high school I unfortunately
have gone thru four hip sur-
geries all do to sports, mainly
softball. It has been nothing
but a battle for myself to con-
stantly stay positive about
myself as an athlete and why
I still am continuing to play.
Battling
Back