Playing with a little bit of Pain

Jason Heyward, courtesy of  Getty Images

The legendary Chipper Jones was recently quoted as saying, “What Jason needs to realize is that Jason at 80 percent is a force, and Jason at 80 percent is better than a lot of people in this league. And that there are a bunch of his teammates that are out there playing with discomfort and not healthy, and still going at it.” Some might say he was telling Heyward to play with a little bit of pain.  No, if you are going to hurt yourself further should you play, but sometimes an amazing player is still really good when they are in a small amount of pain!  So I took his advice, here's the full scoop!!!  Enjoy...

Tonight I got stuck in traffic at 8:50 pm going southbound on the interstate, which even for Atlanta OTP (Outside the Perimeter) is unusual, and was running late to the game (I like to warm up, but was still on time for the start).  When I was ready to go in, I was literally on my first offensive run down field when I collided with another player and his knee hit the soft part right above my knee and stepped on my toe and boy did it sting.  So I was subbed out.  I tried going back in after letting it sit for a minute and took one hard kick down field for a pass and BAM, the pain was back. So I subbed out.
Then I got some ice, I rested for a minute and then before you knew it, it was half time.  I asked the keeper if I could take some shots on him to gauge the threshold for how hard I could realistically kick the ball without killing my knee!  He might have appreciated the extra practice too, who knows?!

Nagravision soccer team pulls out another victory!

Well the second half was my time to shine, I went back in and keep in mind this was a really close game.  My friends on my Nagravision company sponsored team had them close, so it was still a pretty good game.  The referee wasn't calling fouls like I would have liked so the players on BOTH teams were having to be really aggressive, which is also unusual in a recreational league!  But I really got into it the second half.  We were passing really well and when Marta passed the ball to one of our guys on offense I made sure to be in good position by the goal.  He passed to me and I made a clean strong one touch shot to score for our team.  Since I am a female in a co-ed league my goal along with other woman counts for two!  So we secured our win, and I played through a little bit of pain.  We ended up winning that game 6-3 and we also have won the last three games in a row!  What can I say we are hot right now on a winning streak!  I am just very thankful to play with such classy players!