00:00 nine months is normally the kind of scale that people get back from ACL injuries at.
00:05 Obviously, it's all dependent on how your recovery goes. So yeah, look, it's going really well so far.
00:11 It's obviously a long road ahead. But I'm probably lucky in some ways that the summer has come now
00:16 that obviously, you know, the next game being played will probably not be for another two and
00:20 a half, three months. And that will put me back on the pitch, definitely running and doing some bits
00:24 and pieces then. So yeah, look, it's probably, it's never a good time to get injured. But I
00:29 suppose with the summer coming up, it probably works in my favor a small bit that, you know,
00:32 I don't miss as many games. It's a step by step process. I said at the moment, it's still very,
00:38 like, you know, wake up some days and it feels sore, stiff, some days it feels great. So it's,
00:43 yeah, certainly, like, you know, reaching little milestones for me is kind of the best way I'm
00:48 looking at it. You know, I'm still not like, I'm just obviously on crutches and stuff for that.
00:52 So even you take that for granted, just walking around every day and not that you have to relearn
00:57 how to walk, but it's kind of like you have to educate yourself again about like the gay patterns
01:01 and like how it's actually, so it's how you actually walk and getting that feeling back
01:05 into your legs of, you know, so that's, that's the weirdest part about it all. Simple stuff in
01:10 your life, just showering, like, obviously I couldn't get the skin wet around the knee for
01:15 the guts of two or three weeks. Like, so you have to go in with a cover on the shower and then you
01:20 obviously need someone with you at all times for them first two, three weeks. So they're the kind
01:24 of, I suppose, I said the little things you take for granted every day, hopping in the shower.
01:28 Thankfully I can do all that now. I can look after myself, but certainly for the early stages of the,
01:33 of the injury, that's definitely the toughest part. Yeah.
01:36 Was it one of those injuries that when you first suffered it at Leighton Orient,
01:39 did you realize how bad it was straight away?
01:41 Yeah. So I actually did it before when I was 15. Obviously it's a bit different then because
01:47 you're 15 and things heal quicker and, you know, the muscles aren't fully developed and stuff like
01:52 that. So, but yeah, no, I knew straight away. It was one of those feelings. It's,
01:56 anyway, the Sunder ACL of that kind of injury before you kind of know that it's, you know,
02:02 it's a twisting, turning action and your studs basically get stuck on the ground. You go one way
02:06 and then, you know, the knee basically like locks in and out and, you know, the anterior cruciate
02:12 ligament basically snapped in the middle, like, and yeah, you just hear a pop, a snap. But it's
02:19 like one of those noises that you never forget. Like, I think the first time I did it and this
02:24 time I did it with the only two times I've ever had a pop or a snap on a football pitch.
02:27 So it's really weird. And as soon as you hear that, you know, something's wrong. And it was
02:32 difficult because obviously I couldn't go to hospital straight away because we were literally
02:35 stuck in the city center of London. So it was, you know, the logistics of things were just a bit more
02:40 difficult. So obviously I had to go back on the bus, which made sense because obviously I would
02:45 have been on my own down in London and I'm dragging probably a physio with me as well and stuff like
02:49 that. So I just felt more comfortable going back home and being with family and stuff like that.
02:54 But yeah, it's weird. I think the honest answer is so many things come through your head
02:59 and yeah, they're not very good toss. And that's just one of those things. I think the length of
03:06 time and the injury and stuff like that and the pain, first of all, is really painful.
03:12 And yeah, it's just it's an unfortunate injury. I think it's one of those things that they're quite
03:18 unpreventable as well. They're kind of just freak accidents that happen. But I think it's
03:22 certainly a mental challenge more than anything. A lot of it. I think these last few weeks,
03:28 I think once you get surgery and stuff like that, it's I think it's nearly come up to three months
03:32 since they actually done the injury. So I think mentally you kind of have to prepare yourself
03:36 and get over that initial shock of it. And of course, you had a photo after surgery. You look
03:41 very positive, very happy. So that is just how you was feeling after making that big step.
03:46 Yeah, look, it was obviously a big step. Now, I was probably on a lot of drugs and it was,
03:51 you know, that it was I was probably high as a kite when I was putting that picture up. But
03:56 yeah, I was certainly I was certainly more positive than I was. Obviously, there's always
03:59 that bit of anxiety before surgery and stuff like that. And you go under, you know, into an
04:03 anaesthetic and stuff like that. It's you know, it's a weird feeling. You're a bit anxious going
04:07 in. But once it was done, it was kind of just relief. And certainly the ACL is a weird injury
04:13 where you kind of have a build up to surgery, where you have exercises to kind of build the
04:17 muscles surrounding the knee. And it kind of helps on the other end of surgery that like,
04:22 you know, if you build up muscles beforehand, that it helps on the recovery. And so it was weird
04:27 because I knew it was just the knee was was was really, you know, in a bad way before I got
04:32 surgery. So, you know, once it got fixed, it certainly felt in a better way, albeit very
04:36 swollen and stuff like that. But it was it was certainly in a better way than it was beforehand.
04:40 How tough was that season, with that injury? You'd been in and out of the team.
04:44 You had to obviously personal stuff at the beginning of the year as well. So how tough
04:48 had that season sort of been for you? Yeah, it was really tough. Obviously, I had a personal
04:54 situation with my dad passing at the start of the year. And that was tough because it was a
04:59 long illness and it was kind of, you know, getting worse progressively up until the point.
05:05 So that was really tough. And then after that kind of happens, it's it's one of those that like,
05:12 you know, you've got to get yourself right mentally. Yeah, it's tough. But look, for me,
05:17 it's it's certainly learning, obviously, you know, to two really bad situations and probably the
05:23 the worst season in terms of not I don't mean performance wise, but just mean just all around
05:29 just everything that went on in my life, I suppose it was really tough, tough season.
05:34 But look, mentally, character building and certainly things that I can certainly learn
05:38 from. And I think both things that have happened this year will will definitely make me stronger
05:43 mentally and for the future and make me better. So obviously, I wouldn't wish it. I didn't I
05:47 didn't ask for that. But certainly I've got to use that and try to use it to a positive situation.
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