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Injured but Not Broken: When Your Sport Keeps Going Without You · The Nadia Chapman Show

• 0:02
  Hey everyone, welcome to the Nadia Chapman Show. I'm your host, Nadia Chapman.
• 0:07
  And today we're going to be talking about something that is so close to my heart
• 0:11
  and something that I've been thinking about for quite a while now,
• 0:16
  and even more over the past week or so, as I'm learning that more and more people
• 0:23
  I know, athletes, lots of skaters,
• 0:25
  are currently injured.
• 0:28
  And it breaks my heart. I was there about a year ago with my own daughter and,
• 0:32
  And I felt like this was a really good time to just come in,
• 0:37
  go over a few things for you guys who are at home right now and not training
• 0:43
  and participating in competitions and matches and whatever your sport is.
• 0:48
  For those of you who are on the sideline and also for their parents and coaches
• 0:55
  as well. So this is a very important episode, a much needed episode right now.
• 1:01
  Now, if you know, you know, some of you are good friends of mine,
• 1:05
  and I hope you're listening to this because I'm going to give you a few tips
• 1:08
  on how to navigate these not so easy time.
• 1:13
  Like I said, I know quite a few athletes right now who are injured,
• 1:17
  and some of them cannot train at all.
• 1:20
  They're missing trainings, competitions, and time with their teammates.
• 1:25
  It's tough to watch, especially when you know how much work that they put into.
• 1:30
  The sport that they love all year round, and then suddenly everything stops.
• 1:34
  I've seen injuries from a few angles now, of course, as a skating coach and
• 1:38
  a mindset coach, but also as a mom.
• 1:40
  In spring 2025, my daughter dislocated her knee for the second time,
• 1:45
  and we decided to go with surgery.
• 1:47
  So after training hard and building choreographies all winter,
• 1:51
  right before season started for her, we had to pull the plug and stop and cancel everything.
• 1:58
  But like anything in life, nothing lasts forever.
• 2:02
  And of course, fall rolled in and she learned how to skate again and train again
• 2:07
  all winter. And she learned so much and we are back stronger than ever.
• 2:12
  Yes, unfortunately, injuries happen and they are one of those things that you
• 2:17
  cannot control. So there's a little bit of a letting go here that needs to happen.
• 2:22
  I know it's hard to hear when you are on crutches or in a wheelchair and recovering
• 2:26
  from surgery and or watching your teammates do the sport that you love so much
• 2:31
  while you are stuck on the sideline. But let me tell you this.
• 2:35
  You were not the first athlete to be there.
• 2:38
  All right. There's plenty of national champions and Olympians that had moments
• 2:44
  when they could not train and they wondered the same thing.
• 2:48
  They worried and they wondered what would happen next. So recovery takes time
• 2:53
  and I'm not going to downplay it.
• 2:55
  I'm not going to tell you to be grateful for this shitty situation because yes,
• 3:00
  it's a bit of a shitty situation.
• 3:02
  What I will tell you is this being away can change your perspective and you
• 3:07
  can change the story and that is very powerful
• 3:11
  it can remind you why you love your sport so badly
• 3:15
  and why you train so hard and what you want to bring to it when you come back
• 3:19
  when you're ready and you can change what happened but you can decide how to meet this next chapter
• 3:26
  one day at the time so I suggest that you go talk to athletes who's been injured
• 3:31
  and came back to the sport.
• 3:33
  Let them remind you that wherever you are at right now is not where you will always be.
• 3:40
  And when you do return, you might find that you're coming back with a whole
• 3:45
  new understanding and a whole new perspective
• 3:48
  and a whole new drive and motivation, trust me, of what this sport means to you.
• 3:55
  I've seen incredible comebacks, and I've seen injured athletes coming back even stronger than before.
• 4:04
  All right, so let's dive into this. So what do you do when this is your situation,
• 4:09
  when you're stuck at home and your friends and your teammates are out there training?
• 4:14
  How do you stay connected to the sport that you love so much?
• 4:18
  And if you are a parent or a coach, how do you help without adding pressure?
• 4:23
  And that's what I want to get into today.
• 4:26
  The mental side of injury, because that is a real thing, and some really useful
• 4:31
  ways to support an athlete through it.
• 4:34
  Let's start by addressing how lonely being an injured athlete is.
• 4:41
  Your life has come to a complete stop. A lot of you are training at a very high
• 4:46
  level. So skating or whatever sport you're doing is everything.
• 4:51
  So your life has come to a stop and your sport keeps moving.
• 4:56
  You open your Instagram and you see your friends achieving their goals and moving
• 5:01
  to higher levels and going to competitions. and you see tournaments,
• 5:05
  you see games, matches, you see parents.
• 5:09
  And for parents, it's not easy as well. I remember myself opening my Instagram
• 5:13
  page while my daughter was crippled, really, and walking in crutches.
• 5:18
  And you see other skaters, you know, moving forward in the season.
• 5:23
  It's not an easy place to be.
• 5:26
  And I'm seeing this with so many young athletes right now. And this is why I
• 5:30
  felt compelled to do this podcast. skaters and also athletes in other sports
• 5:34
  who are missing practices, competitions, and their entire season, really.
• 5:39
  And when people ask, you know, how are you doing? The conversation often goes straight to the injury.
• 5:46
  Are you recovering? How's your knee? How's your shoulder? And when are you coming
• 5:50
  back? And what is your doctor saying? And those questions, of course, matter. Yeah.
• 5:54
  But today, I want to talk about the part that we don't see, that we can't see,
• 5:59
  which is the disappointment, the fear of falling behind, this weird feeling
• 6:05
  that for the first time, guess what?
• 6:06
  You're on the outside of something that used to be your whole world.
• 6:10
  And I know this from my work, of course, as a figure skating coach and as an
• 6:14
  athlete myself, I also got injured.
• 6:16
  I also felt it as a mom when my daughter was recovering from the injury.
• 6:21
  And this episode is for you guys. if you are injured or you've been there or
• 6:26
  for the parents and the coaches trying to help, they are things that we can
• 6:31
  do for the mental side of recovery.
• 6:34
  We just need to start in the right place. So if you are an athlete,
• 6:38
  let me say this first, you are allowed to be upset. You're allowed to be pissed.
• 6:44
  You're allowed to be mad. You're allowed to be sad. All right.
• 6:47
  You can love your sport and hate watching everything happening without you.
• 6:53
  You can be happy for your friends and also a bit jealous of them.
• 6:58
  And you can be committed to your rehab and physical therapy and everything that
• 7:03
  you're supposed to be doing and still have days when you don't feel hopeful
• 7:07
  at all. It's normal. You are human.
• 7:10
  And sometimes athletes feel kind of guilty about those thoughts.
• 7:14
  Like they think, oh, I should be handling this better and I should be more positive.
• 7:18
  And so already athletes are dealing with the injury, but then,
• 7:22
  oh, judging themselves for how they respond to it and how they feel about things.
• 7:26
  So you don't need to add that second burden on your shoulders.
• 7:29
  I'm going to tell you that right now. Missing something you love is really hard,
• 7:34
  especially when it's your whole life.
• 7:36
  And you are allowed to tell the truth about it.
• 7:39
  So parents and coaches listening, we can help by resisting that urge to fix
• 7:44
  that feeling immediately. And I know that urge very well.
• 7:48
  When a kid you care about so much is hurting and is not well and is pulled away
• 7:54
  from the sport, you want to find that little sentence to make things better. It's normal.
• 7:59
  You know, you want to say, well, at least it's not worse. It could be worse.
• 8:03
  And this will make you stronger.
• 8:05
  And trust me, I've said all these things or you'll be back before you know it.
• 8:09
  And it is true, obviously.
• 8:11
  There's part of all of this that is true.
• 8:14
  But the athlete is hurting now. And before we talk about the comeback,
• 8:20
  we need to ask, what are you missing most? And it might be the competition.
• 8:26
  It might be seeing their friends every single day or maybe that feeling of getting
• 8:31
  better at something and working towards something. Or maybe they'll say like,
• 8:34
  oh, I feel like everyone is going to get better than me this season because I'm not doing my sport.
• 8:40
  Listen to the answer before offering advice.
• 8:44
  And that one conversation can tell you so much about what they actually need in that moment.
• 8:50
  Because injury doesn't only interrupt the sport and the training,
• 8:54
  it can shake an athlete's confidence and identity.
• 8:58
  When your schedule, your friends, your goals are all tied up into your sport,
• 9:03
  being unable to do it can leave you just thinking, who am I without this?
• 9:10
  And then there's a comparison. Your teammate posts a new skill or someone else
• 9:15
  gets picked up for the event that you hope to do or something else is happening
• 9:19
  and then your brain starts racing ahead. Oh my gosh, they're improving. I'm losing time.
• 9:24
  What if I come back and I'm not good anymore? What if I can't do this and this and that anymore?
• 9:30
  Because obviously you're not only taking some time off, your body is going through something.
• 9:36
  Recovering from surgery or injury it's not easy so you've got to relearn how
• 9:41
  to walk sometimes you've got to relearn how to play your game or how to skate
• 9:45
  or whatever it is that you're doing so here's a simple mindset exercise for that moment,
• 9:50
  Ask yourself, what do I know and what am I predicting?
• 9:56
  And this is a very good question because you may know what your doctor or what
• 10:01
  your physical therapist has told you.
• 10:04
  You may know what you can do this week or you can't do this week.
• 10:08
  And you may know that you'll be reassessed, let's say.
• 10:12
  But I'll never catch up is a prediction.
• 10:16
  It's a prediction that your scared
• 10:18
  brain, within reason, is making about a future that you cannot see yet.
• 10:23
  So you don't have to replace it with, oh, everything will be perfect and everything
• 10:28
  will be fine. But try something more believable. Maybe you can tell yourself,
• 10:32
  I don't know exactly what my return will look like.
• 10:36
  I know the next step that I can take today. And that's a thought that you can
• 10:40
  actually use. So now let's get practical for a second.
• 10:44
  One thing that helps me.
• 10:46
  Think differently if I can say about injury was realizing that an athlete can
• 10:51
  stay connected to a sport in more than one way so if you are a figure skater
• 10:57
  you can show up in in more ways than just oh I need to be on the ice training
• 11:01
  right now so when you can't train
• 11:04
  it's really easy to feel like you're no longer part of your sport but training is only one way
• 11:11
  you participate and this is a very important part of the podcast because it's
• 11:16
  all about staying connected to your sport while you cannot necessarily be part of it in that moment.
• 11:23
  So maybe you can still go to a competition and cheer for your teammates like my daughter and I did.
• 11:29
  Maybe you can volunteer at your club, at your rink, at an event,
• 11:33
  or maybe you can sit in for a lesson or a group class and listen to your coach
• 11:37
  without having to be on the ice or whatever, having to be on the field
• 11:41
  or concentrate or perform the skill, you can still be part of it.
• 11:45
  And if you're a figure skater, well, this can be a really good time to learn about GOEs.
• 11:51
  And the rules and program components and just kind of educate yourself and keep,
• 11:56
  your toes in, like I say, without necessarily be on the ice training.
• 12:01
  So watch elite skating on TV or online and look beyond the jumps.
• 12:06
  What makes someone's skating memorable, for instance. So how do they use their
• 12:11
  music? And what do they do after a mistake? How are they recovering?
• 12:15
  What would you love to bring into your own skating someday?
• 12:18
  So maybe some journaling and some mindset work and, and keep getting involved,
• 12:23
  keep watching, keep attending events.
• 12:25
  So you can start dreaming about even your next program, listen to music,
• 12:30
  or you can talk to your coach about your return plan.
• 12:33
  When you have enough information to make one, go for it.
• 12:36
  And Maybe you'll have a medical team that say, hey, you know what,
• 12:40
  you might not be able to skate right now, but maybe you can do some ballet,
• 12:44
  some yoga, some flexibility work, or just something that you can do while you are healing.
• 12:51
  Another topic I want to bring in that I think is just very pivotal when you
• 12:57
  are recovering from injury or surgery,
• 13:00
  is visualization, because visualization can be a very useful tool at this point in time.
• 13:08
  So I want you to picture the place where you perform.
• 13:12
  Use imagery. You know, imagine arriving, breathing, warming up,
• 13:16
  imagine training again, moving through a program or a situation in a game situation
• 13:22
  if you're doing group sport so include a moment
• 13:26
  that doesn't go perfectly but see yourself respond reset and continue keep the
• 13:31
  training even though it's in your mind you know you're giving your mind a chance to practice,
• 13:36
  Practice staying present, even while your physical training is on pause.
• 13:41
  And aligned with this, I think that a lot of athletes who are injured should start journaling.
• 13:47
  You can listen to podcasts. You can write your thoughts down.
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  You can answer some mindset coaching questions.
• 13:53
  You could talk to another athlete who's been through an injury.
• 13:56
  That's one thing I did when my daughter was injured. And I reach out to friends.
• 14:02
  And athletes that she looks up to who were injured and did have to take some
• 14:07
  time off or sometimes a whole season off.
• 14:10
  And I say, hey, do you mind sending Maeva a little message so she can feel some
• 14:14
  hope and just get like a little bit of perspective here that this is not going to last forever.
• 14:19
  And that really helped. So reach out to athletes who have been through the same
• 14:23
  thing and also stay in touch with your teammates, stay in touch with your coaches, give them updates.
• 14:28
  So I'm giving you all these ideas because injury can make you feel so lonely.
• 14:34
  And of course, like a door has closed and I want you to see that the door is
• 14:38
  still open. So I'm not giving you a list here of things that you're supposed to accomplish.
• 14:44
  So pick whatever helps you. And please know that connection can change from week to week.
• 14:50
  At one point, maybe watching a competition might feel really fun.
• 14:55
  And another point, it might feel painful. So you are allowed to say, hey, you know what?
• 14:59
  I want to support everyone, but this sucks. I don't want to be in the building
• 15:02
  right now while I'm in my crutches.
• 15:05
  And that doesn't make you a bad teammate or a bad person. All right.
• 15:09
  Also, a very important thing, make room for conversations that have nothing
• 15:13
  to do with the injury. And that is so important. So your child may already be
• 15:17
  thinking about relationships.
• 15:18
  You know, the next physical therapy appointment and the rehab and getting back
• 15:23
  to training all the time and the pain they're having.
• 15:25
  Because of course, I mean, injuries hurt. They're not a pleasant physical thing
• 15:30
  to feel. But they also need moment when they can laugh and they can be bored
• 15:36
  and they can be just interested in something else.
• 15:39
  And no one understands that they are still a whole person. When my daughter
• 15:43
  dislocated her knee for the second time and we decided to go with the surgery,
• 15:48
  her coach said, you know what? I've been there before and this is your time to binge watch Netflix.
• 15:55
  And it was such a fun little silly comment. And I told her, I said,
• 15:59
  you know what? She's right. You should do things that you never get to do because
• 16:03
  you're always training and always in the car going from rinks to rinks.
• 16:06
  And this is a moment where you get to do something else.
• 16:10
  Reading books, binge watching series, arts and craft.
• 16:14
  I don't know. Just come up with something, but do things that you're not normally doing.
• 16:20
  And before I wrap things up, I have a very important message for coaches because
• 16:25
  an injured athlete may quietly wonder whether they still belong in the team or in your plans.
• 16:32
  And a message saying, oh, I was thinking about you, how you're doing can mean a lot.
• 16:38
  If you reach out to your injured athletes asking how they're doing,
• 16:42
  telling them that you're here when they're ready to return, or if there's anything
• 16:45
  you can do means the whole world.
• 16:47
  So invite them to the games, the competition, invite them to observe or stay
• 16:53
  involved the best way they can.
• 16:55
  And don't make attendance a test to their commitment, you know,
• 16:58
  so keep them included in any shape or forms.
• 17:01
  And when an athlete is clear to return, because eventually they will be.
• 17:07
  Remember that getting the physical okay doesn't necessarily mean that the fear will disappear.
• 17:14
  They might have a fear of getting injured again.
• 17:16
  They may want desperately to come back and still hesitate on a certain skill
• 17:21
  that they used to do without thinking.
• 17:23
  So talk with them, follow the guidance
• 17:27
  of their care team and their doctors and physical therapists,
• 17:30
  of course, but help them rebuild that confidence through the steps right in
• 17:35
  front of them rather than expecting them to feel like they're all self right away on day one.
• 17:41
  And before I wrap it up, I want to give injured athletes three powerful questions to take with them.
• 17:48
  So grab a paper and a pen, grab your journal. You can write them down if you
• 17:54
  want. I highly suggest you do so.
• 17:56
  My first question is, what do I miss most?
• 18:01
  And I want you to be very specific, very honest. And it's okay if the answer is, I miss everything.
• 18:08
  Okay. My second question is, what is still mine? And yeah, you might not be.
• 18:16
  At your full potential right now training. However, some things are still yours to keep.
• 18:22
  Maybe it's your friendships, maybe it's your work ethic, your curiosity,
• 18:26
  or the goals that you're beginning to imagine.
• 18:29
  Those things are still there, even if you are in a wheelchair or crutches.
• 18:33
  Okay, you are also more than your sport.
• 18:37
  Even if it takes time to feel that, we attach ourselves so much,
• 18:41
  our whole identity is all intertwined into our sport.
• 18:44
  But at this point in time, some things are still yours, even though you're not
• 18:49
  out there competing and training and all that stuff.
• 18:52
  My last question is, what is one helpful thing I can do this week?
• 18:58
  And maybe it's following your rehab plan and being very diligent about your physical therapy.
• 19:05
  Maybe it's asking your coach to send you practice videos. Maybe it's journaling.
• 19:10
  Maybe it's volunteering.
• 19:12
  Maybe it's choosing music for your next program next season.
• 19:16
  Maybe it's taking a break from social media, or maybe it's telling a parent,
• 19:20
  you know what, I'm having a harder time that I've been saying, and that is okay.
• 19:25
  So what is one helpful thing that you can do for yourself this week?
• 19:30
  Just one thing and start there.
• 19:32
  For parents, here are things you can do. Ask what they need before offering solutions.
• 19:38
  So do you want ideas? Do you want distraction? Or do you want someone to listen?
• 19:43
  Can be more useful than a little pep talk. So offer them and ask them, what do you want?
• 19:49
  Let them have mixed feelings.
• 19:52
  They can be very happy for a teammate and upset about missing out.
• 19:57
  It's okay. And it's normal. It's very validated.
• 20:02
  They don't need to feel guilty for either offer choices about staying involved
• 20:07
  so ask whether they want to go see a practice or watch a competition or maybe
• 20:12
  take a weekend away from sport either way
• 20:16
  offer choices about staying involved whether they want to be involved or maybe they don't
• 20:21
  keep life bigger than the injury and this is exactly what i did with my daughter we
• 20:27
  took trips I was telling myself you know what I'm not spending on skating right
• 20:31
  now so let's go take trips let's go to Europe let's go watch skating and some
• 20:36
  Grand Prix's and things like that so we did kind of spoil ourself
• 20:40
  put a band-aid on the whole situation but keep life bigger than the injury you
• 20:44
  know spend time together go for coffee go for smoothie go go do something else
• 20:50
  go shopping just spend time together without making every
• 20:53
  conversation about the injury, about rehab and the returning dates and or the loss of progress. So.
• 21:00
  Life is more than the sport we're doing. And sometimes it's hard to see because
• 21:05
  we are so consumed as parents and coaches and athletes that it's all we do and
• 21:11
  it's all we see, but there's a life out there.
• 21:14
  And maybe this is your sign to go, I don't know, do something else.
• 21:18
  Help them take one week at a time.
• 21:22
  And this is so stupid, but it's such an important part of the process.
• 21:26
  When they're worried about the whole season, bring the conversation back to
• 21:31
  what they know and what their next step is.
• 21:34
  It's so easy to feel overwhelmed and catastrophized that the whole season,
• 21:39
  the whole year, everything is falling apart.
• 21:42
  Just take them one week at a time.
• 21:45
  And notice when they need more support. Because if they seem very overwhelmed
• 21:51
  or withdraw, you know what? Help them talk with a professional.
• 21:55
  Have them talk with their coaches. And by the way, I'm not here to give you
• 22:00
  any advice on the physical side of recovery. That is not my job.
• 22:04
  I'm not here to tell anyone when they should return and how they should return to their sport.
• 22:09
  You need to have a good team or good recovery team with you.
• 22:13
  Physical therapist or physical trainer, recovery trainer, whatever you call them.
• 22:18
  You need to have somebody by your side who can help you recover from whatever
• 22:24
  happened to you, but also get back to your sport safely.
• 22:28
  So someone who knows what they're doing and truly cares about the person that they're helping.
• 22:35
  And I've got to say, when my daughter had surgery, we were lucky enough to know.
• 22:40
  One of the best, Chris Phillips from Compete Sports Performance in Lake Forest in California.
• 22:47
  Chris, we are good friends now, and I know that you listen to the Nadia Chapman
• 22:51
  show. So I'm taking this little moment to give you a shout out right now.
• 22:57
  Thank you. Thank you so much for the way that you care about all the athletes
• 23:03
  who come through your doors.
• 23:04
  You are so good at what you do.
• 23:06
  And I've watched athletes make incredible progress in your office,
• 23:10
  or maybe I should say a gym, not an office, a gym or an office.
• 23:14
  It's both. But I've seen a series
• 23:18
  of little miracles happening with Chris and the people he work with.
• 23:23
  So when your child is injured, guys, seeing someone believing in their recovery,
• 23:28
  having this one person who can guide them through it means way more than I can explain right now.
• 23:34
  So thank you, Chris, for being that person from Aeva and for so many skaters,
• 23:40
  so many people that I know.
• 23:42
  I know I'm far from the only one right now who feels this way about you.
• 23:46
  So that was your little thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've done.
• 23:52
  So if you don't have a Chris Phillips where you live, find that person,
• 23:56
  find that person who will get you back to where you were before you got hurt.
• 24:01
  It's such a crucial component of your recovery, having that person who can train
• 24:07
  you and get you ready to come back to your sport.
• 24:11
  I once wrote that an injured athlete is still heading towards their dream,
• 24:15
  and the road has changed a little.
• 24:18
  But I really believe that anything is possible and an injury is not going to
• 24:23
  define the rest of your life and the rest of your journey in your sport.
• 24:27
  I also know that calling it a detour doesn't make it easy.
• 24:33
  You don't need to turn this into an inspirational story while you're living in it.
• 24:39
  You are allowed to be sad, to be disappointed.
• 24:43
  If you are injured right now, I hope that you have people who will let you be
• 24:48
  honest, help you stay connected in ways that feel right and remind you that
• 24:54
  you matter on the days that you can't play or you can't skate and you can't perform.
• 24:58
  So if you are a parent or a coach, a little reminder that you don't need the
• 25:03
  perfect speech. Sometimes we don't have the words. I remember sitting there
• 25:07
  with my daughter being quiet and not knowing what to tell her. And that's okay.
• 25:12
  But you can ask good questions and you can listen to the answers and you can keep showing up.
• 25:19
  If you are injured right now, I send you, like I say, a big fat hug and know
• 25:25
  that eventually you will come back to do what you love to do,
• 25:29
  even though it might be hard to see in this moment.
• 25:33
  Thank you so much for listening to the Nadia Chapman Show.
• 25:36
  This episode could help an injured athlete or someone supporting one.
• 25:40
  Please share it with them.
• 25:42
  I'll appreciate that. I'll talk to you next time.