Sometimes it hurts to play

T
he old adage of “No pain, no gain” is one that anyone who has participated in sports knows is one of the keys to success. 
It means that you are pushing yourself to the limits of your abilities, which is what you need to do in order to become the best version of yourself.
Unfortunately, sometimes the pain you experience goes beyond the normal owies that come with playing the sport you love, and in the last couple of weeks the Dogies have taken a beating, proving that sometimes it hurts to play.
Between athletes, coaches and sports writers — yes that means me — we’ve encountered a myriad of injuries to a variety of people.
A couple of weeks ago, the Lady Dogies suffered a broken tooth and a broken wrist in Thermopolis. Then a few days later, there were two broken teeth, a split open chin, a sprained ankle and a tweaked knee. Finally, last Saturday they had yet another sprained ankle.
At regional wrestling there was a knee injury suffered during warmups.
Two weeks ago, I broke my wrist and bruised my tailbone and a colleague suffered an injury to his foot, which put him in a boot.
With all of the bruising, bracing, stitching, casting, taping, dental work, and crutches that has happened in the span of 16 days, one might question why people voluntarily put themselves in situations that can lead to needing medical assistance.
Is it worth it? The answer is a resounding yes.
As a high school basketball player, I consistently sprained both ankles year after year requiring both to be taped daily in order to practice or play. I suffered an injury to my knee which I never had checked out but suspect was a tear to my ACL. As a coach, I partially tore my other ACL. 
The worst repercussion that I remember from any of my sports related injuries was being forced to sit out of games and having to look on as my teammates got to play the game I loved without me.
Never in my life have I looked back with regret regarding continuing to play through my injuries, and I can almost guarantee that if you ask any athlete who sustained an injury because of their sport, they will tell you the same thing.
A prime example is the wrestler who competed successfully at the state tournament with the knee injury he sustained after the regional tournament. 
You know he was in pain, but the opportunity to do what he loved overrode whatever physical discomfort he was feeling. There was nothing that would have held him back from getting on that mat to make his run for a state title.
This determination comes as no surprise to anyone who has suffered an injury during
their season. 
My most recent experience occurred because I was trying to relive my younger days as a pretty decent roller skater. Turns out, roller skating is not like riding a bike — and I discovered that the hard way — but I also discovered that my determination to play through the pain has not diminished with age. 
After suffering a broken wrist shortly after getting on skates at the roller rink, I continued to skate for another hour before calling it a day. I won’t give it another go as I know it’s time to permanently hang up my skates, but true to form, I don’t regret the time I spent doing something I love one more time because sometimes it hurts to play.