What Injury Really Teaches a Swimmer

Courtesy: Larry Reines

In swimming, time away from the pool doesn’t really feel like time paused.

It appears like time stolen from you.

I didn’t totally perceive that till I watched my son Joshua stay it.

At what ought to have been a crucial level in his age-group development, Joshua had shoulder surgical procedure. Then one other. Torn labrums. Both shoulders. One after the opposite. What we had been advised could be a short lived interruption became 14 months out of the water with none significant coaching.

In a sport the place enchancment is measured in weeks—and typically tenths—that type of absence modifications all the pieces.

There had been no interval units taped to the wall. No conversations about taper. No meet calendars deliberate months prematurely. Instead, there have been bodily remedy appointments, resistance bands scattered round the home, and lengthy stretches the place progress wasn’t apparent to anybody, together with him.

Some days, the toughest half wasn’t rehab; it was the pool he couldn’t enter.

Eventually, the query got here up. Not dramatically. Not in a single dialog. Just quietly; Who am I if I’m not swimming?

Joshua didn’t reply that query shortly. And he didn’t reply it out loud.

At first, there was loss. Then frustration. Then a type of silence. Not unhappiness precisely—extra like detachment.

Swimming had all the time supplied suggestions. You swim. The clock solutions. Take the clock away, and the noise exhibits up elsewhere.

What I observed as a father or mother was that, slowly, swimming stopped being the one organizing power in his life. Without occasions to chase, he needed to resolve whether or not the work itself nonetheless mattered.

And it did.

Not due to cuts or rankings, however due to what the game demanded when nobody was watching: self-discipline, accountability, endurance, and naturally, he mentioned, “I love swimming.”

Swimming stopped defining him by default and have become one thing he selected, once more.

He selected that swimming could be a part of his life—not the sum of it. That distinction mattered. It gave him room to recuperate with out panic and return with out making an attempt to make up for misplaced time. When he lastly got here again to the water, it wasn’t to reclaim an identification he’d misplaced—it was to proceed the journey.

The Part of Injury No One Talks About

Physical restoration is simple to measure. Strength comes again. Stability improves. Range of movement will increase.
Mental restoration doesn’t present up on a spreadsheet.

Joshua didn’t simply lose conditioning. He misplaced rhythm. He misplaced momentum. Friends stored racing and cuts had been made with out him within the water. Seasons handed.

One factor that mattered greater than most individuals notice was that he wasn’t alone.

His brother, a swimmer of comparable caliber, was there the whole time. Not simply cheering from the deck, however coaching, pushing ahead, and likewise ready. Injury isolates athletes. Brotherhood counteracts that isolation in a method no program or pep discuss ever may.

Joshua’s comeback didn’t start when he swam his first race again.

It started 18 months in the past, when he dedicated to restoration with out understanding what the end result could be.

The Long Way Back

Getting again within the water wasn’t inspiring. It was awkward.

Before he swam a single lap, there have been bands. Every day. Bands earlier than you get into the water. Rotator cuff work. Slow, deliberate actions. No shortcuts. Swim got here after preparation. It turned a rule, not a suggestion.

The swims had been quick. Intensity was managed. Pain wasn’t sharp, but it surely was all the time there—simply sufficient to demand respect. Every apply required restraint, particularly on the times he felt good. Those had been typically the toughest days to handle.

Progress got here slowly. Then stalled. Then got here again once more.

There was no breakthrough apply. No second the place all the pieces abruptly clicked.

Just displaying up. Day after day. Month after month.

Stroke for Stroke

This weekend, Joshua raced the 400 IM.

It wasn’t the A remaining. It was the B remaining—earned, aggressive, trustworthy. He was seeded subsequent to his brother. In the second 50 of the butterfly leg—the a part of the race the place effort begins to indicate—his brother was there. In sync, stroke for stroke. Setting the rhythm. Leading the way in which.

Nothing wanted to be mentioned.

Joshua missed the Summer Junior National minimize by .84 seconds.

On paper, that’s a miss.

In context, it’s a marker of how far he’s come.

Because 18 months earlier, he wasn’t chasing cuts. He was chasing the flexibility to coach persistently. He was racing doubt, frustration, and the quiet concern that an excessive amount of time had handed.

The New Reality of Recovery

There’s one thing injured athletes finally study that doesn’t get talked about sufficient: restoration doesn’t finish. Joshua’s orthopedist—who spent years working with an NBA crew—was direct about it. There wasn’t a single apply or recreation when he walked into the locker room the place gamers weren’t icing, taping, or performing some type of remediation. Not as a result of they had been injured, however as a result of staying wholesome at a excessive stage requires fixed upkeep.

The ice pack and the heating pad are a part of Joshua’s routine now. And it all the time can be.

This reframed what “healthy” really means.

Not pain-free however ready.

What Injury Really Builds

Swimming doesn’t reward shortcuts, it rewards the individuals who put within the time.

Injury doesn’t assist construct grit in large moments. It builds it quietly—in rehab rooms, empty lanes, and races most individuals gained’t discover.

Joshua isn’t outlined by lacking a minimize by .84 seconds.

He’s outlined by refusing to let damage resolve the top of his story.

And that lesson—discovered slowly, with out ensures—will last more than any medal ever may.

ABOUT LARRY REINES

Larry Reines is a father or mother of a aggressive swimmer and a former swimmer. He shares this story not as knowledgeable author, however as a father or mother hoping to provide voice to an expertise many households within the sport don’t need to face—however typically do. Larry can also be the CEO of Floafers, although this piece is written solely from the angle of a father or mother.