We talk a lot about ‘The Grind’ around here and about putting in the daily work. My grind has been different. It’s been physically and emotionally draining at times, and it surely hasn’t been easy.
Almost every day I get asked about my rehab and how soon I might be back on the field playing. So, here is an update for all those Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans who have been asking: I’m in exactly the right place at the right time right now. I’m not sure if that’s ahead of schedule or not, but I do feel I’m where I need to be. I’m working hard and it does look promising, for sure.
Some of you know I elected to stay up here to do my rehab after my surgery after the end of the season last year. This was my first time staying here during a Manitoba winter. That put an extra element in it that made it a bit more difficult to stay focused sometimes. Through that part of the winter before I could really get to rehabbing, there were a lot of times where my girlfriend helped me out so much. I wasn’t able to drive anywhere, and she would take a part of her day to just help me get around. Or I was getting up at 3 o’clock every morning and she would get me ice – she’s one of the biggest reasons I’m here right now doing what I’m doing. I appreciate her and everything she’s done, and I have to point that out here.
Admittedly, there have been times where I did ask myself throughout this journey if this was something I really wanted to do. It is THAT hard at times. But going through all this you have two decisions to make: you can stay like this for the rest of your life and accommodate it, or you can get yourself better.
That’s what I’ve been doing: affording myself an opportunity to get another opportunity.
My goal is to guarantee myself an opportunity to put it on the line for my guys again.
That’s a big part of what has helped drive me through all this. First, I do really love football. And part of why I love football so much is the guys around me, and I feel like I would be letting people down if I didn’t do this. Obviously, I would be letting myself down, too, but my decision was I had to go out and just hit it and do everything possible. The guys around me have my back no matter what happens.
There was also a time during the rehab where we were talking about my contract and re-signing because I was a free agent, and I wasn’t sure how that situation was going to work. I feel like I’ve been blessed to not just sign here for one year, but to sign for two – that told me everyone around here believed in the things I was going to do, and I appreciated that. Those were huge drivers for me.
Since training camp and the season started, I’ve still been involved in the meetings early in the morning and then I do my workout when everybody is at practice. That’s my practice. Then I’ll do some running and some drills while they’re out there. Then I’ll get an extra work out in afterwards. That’s every day. I don’t miss a day of working out to get myself back.
One of the things that can be really tough in all this is there’s a difference between working out as you are preparing for a game that week and working out and rehabbing. Rehab can be daunting because a lot of the days look the same. You can’t really count day by day, sometimes you count week by week. But the months slowly accumulate and it’s over that time where you see the changes and the big differences. For the first couple of months in the gym – it’s like you have parts of your body that are relearning how to do things again. The tough part is when you haven’t run for a while, when you haven’t back-pedalled for a while, and then you start up again it’s like your legs are on fire, you’re catching cramps – it’s like you’re just learning to play football again.
I was in the gym at the same time as Andrew Jean-Baptiste of Valour during his rehab. He was a couple of months ahead of me in his rehab and I was seeing all the things he was able to do at that time and I was like, ‘Whoa… that’s just around the corner for me right now.’ That pushes me to do more. I’ve also got a weightlifting partner in Noah Hallett, who is in there every day, too, and so it’s not like I’ve been in there struggling by myself. Even though we’re not doing the same thing I can look to the side and see him working and that pushes you even harder. Seeing the progress of those guys made me definitely push to keep doing what I’m doing.
At the end of the day when you’re going through something like this you have a choice: do you go all in and attack it, or half-behind it? I’m a guy that if I have to do something, I’m all in. It’s not going to be anything at 50 percent. The way I look at it, rehabbing is just my job right now. This is what is required of me and what my teammates are expecting of me.
I know my body and right now I know I’m not quite ready. But I will say this: if you would ask me where I was at this time last month to right now, I feel like a new man. I honestly feel like I can do everything right now. I do have some soreness here and there, but then I have days where we’re repping it up out there and I can really go. I feel more explosive. So, the months of hard work really do stack up. It feels real now.
I’m taking things even more seriously than ever before and I was fully committed before this. Again, the guarantee is affording yourself the opportunity to play. What I’m guaranteeing is I’m going to come back bigger, faster and stronger. I’m stretching every day. I’m working out every day. I’m doing all the little things that need to be done
Again, it’s about the grind. And we always talk about the little things around here on defence – picking up the ball, running to the ball, pursuit – if you do those things all the time, good things can happen.
Every single day is that extra inch for me. It’s been long and it’s been tough. I’m definitely getting antsy, but I’m so excited because the hard work is paying off for me.
