Recuperating from injury

Injury is one of an athlete’s biggest fears, but in many sports it’s inevitable. Whether it’s a minor sprain or bump or a more serious broken bone, bouncing back from injury takes mental strength as well as physical recuperation. We’ve been chatting to 8-year-old, Amelia Woodford from Robin Hood Gymnastics Club in Nottingham, who shares her recent experience after breaking her ankle in training.   

How did you injure yourself?

I was tumbling and doing round off straight backs and I after my go I was practicing my round offs on the tumble track and landed funny. 

Apart from the physical pain of the injury how did you feel when you did it?

After I did it I wasn’t too worried because I thought it was just sprained but the next morning it hurt a lot and then I got worried it might be broken. 

 I felt really frustrated because I was doing something I had done lots of times and a really simple move when I did it. 

How long have you been off training and what have you done to recuperate? 

I had my cast put on the Friday and I was back at gymnastics the following Tuesday. I normally train 20/25 hours a week but my mum and I met with my coach and she put a training plan in place doing about 10 hours a week. 

I have done lots and lots of conditioning while the team did vault and floor. I had a special sheet telling me what to do on each piece of equipment to make sure I was only doing things that were safe for me.

I also did a lot of bars because I didn’t need to use my leg. My coach put a leg weight on my good leg so I was balanced! 

I also needed to rest a lot which was the hardest thing! 

What are you working to next in gymnastics? 

I was supposed to do my compulsory grade 4 competition in March but I had to pull out because of my leg. So now I’m working to my level 4 competitions later this year and training for compulsory grade three in 2019. It’s going to be really tough so I need to work really hard! 

What advice would you give to anybody who has recently suffered an injury? 

Try and stay happy and positive, I thought I would fall behind my team and get bored at gymnastics, but I just kept going, worked hard and it has passed really quickly. 

Also listen to your coaches because they know what’s best – so when the say rest – rest!

Follow Amelia on Instagram at @gymnast.amelia.uk