“At secondary school P.E. was my favourite lesson, even by the age of 14 when 80% of the other girls were getting out of it every week claiming they had “period pains” I still loved it (this was also when I realised I got on a lot better with guys)! I started playing club netball at the age of 10 and continued until I went to University at 19.
Despite studying a completely non-related subject, I threw myself into everything sport related. In my second year I took on an organisational committee role in the netball club, in my third year I was Captain, then during my Masters I continued as captain and also got elected as the University sports Chairwoman.
When I finished my Masters degree I moved back in with my parents and that’s when I hit a low point. I have always been a very positive yet realistic individual, however being stuck in a house on my own applying for jobs all day (and getting rejected from most) got to me; both mentally and physically. I was boredom eating so much and couldn’t afford to join a gym being unemployed. I began noticing some fat gain and having not played netball for 6 months I was missing it; so decided to join a new club. I began playing for the team and it was the only thing I looked forward to each week. 4 weeks in, I fell on my ankle during a game and tore my anterior ankle ligament. Complete tear. This was in October 2019.
It is now April 2020 and I have only just managed a 5km run in less than 32 minutes. My mental health plummeted, which I didn’t really tell anybody about. I was feeling down every day, I was irritable constantly and snapping at my family for the tiniest things. Luckily, a good friend of mine is very knowledgeable in the world of strength and conditioning and rehab and began helping me on my road to recovery. The more my ankle recovered and the more active I got, the happier I became. The happier I became, the more my life seemed like it was falling into place, with both work and relationships.”
Thank you from the Humans of HIIT community for sharing your story!
