Hi, I'm Kristyn. I played volleyball at UT Dallas, graduated undergrad in May 2018. I'm now getting my masters in marketing at UT Dallas as well. I started playing volleyball when I was eight years old, so I played for about 14 years. 

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Explain the details on how your injury happened.

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My injury was my last year and it's kind of interesting because whenever I tell people what I injured there was like, you play volleyball though. So I broke my rib, which is not uncommon with volleyball. But it was one of our away tournaments and I was playing back row and there's another hitter front row and there was an out of system ball that was kind of like in between the two so I went and jumped from the background, trying to hit it. The girl from the front row jump backwards trying to hit it in midair, her head hit my rib And she fell down. I stayed like perfectly stable, but we didn't know is broken at that point either. I kept playing on it for a whole another week and another tournament so probably got worse. I think it broke when she hit her head hit my rib, but that probably got worse. I kept diving and playing on it. And  that was September of 2017.

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Can you explain the recovery process? How long it took you to fully recover?

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So the hard thing about recovering from a broken rib is they can't put like a cast or anything on it because the spot it's in and so I literally just had to rest it obviously not lay on that side. Just rest and not move around a lot and stuff and so for the first two to three weeks I just couldn't do, well I could walk here and there but no physical activity or anything. After about three weeks, I was able to start doing the recumbent bike, stationary bike, that kind of thing, while everyone else lifted weights and then I think at seven weeks I was able to start playing volleyball a little bit but not like with the team, like our trainer brought me to the side and was tossing balls now just like slowly dive or slowly move and I think it was eight or nine weeks that I was able to come back and play.

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What was your initial reaction when you first got injured?

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When I first got injured,  my initial reaction, so I went got it actually finally and then I left and then our trainer called me and was like, wait, go back, they want to talk to you is like oh is everything okay? So I was like, Well, first of all, it's not a good sign. But I went back and the doctor was like, yep, it's broken. Show me the X ray show and position and I didn't know this but he end up telling my trainer "wow, she took it really well for someone who just broke her rib" and so I was trying to stay super calm. Okay, and keeping it all inside, walked out, made my next appointment and everything, left and the minute I got out of that building, I just like her bursting into tears. I was like trying to hold it in, obviously, but called my dad was like crying like I never cry. I mean, obviously people don't know but I try and not cry as much as I can, but burst into tears call my dad and I could barely say "it's broken" in tears. Then try to call my mom. She didn't answer, then I finally calm down, like 15 minutes later, she called back and like burst into tears again. So we first got the news. It was like, Okay, I'm cool and I guess I stepped outside and it hit me with actually what's happening? I just lost it.

Yeah, so I was crying cuz I never dealt with a huge injury before I got my first I mean, maybe a rolled ankle or something, but nothing that took me out of the game. And it was my last season I was graduating that next spring kind of thing and it just hit me that I wasn't able to play and, it was just the shock the realization that I wasn't gonna play the sport for the whatever amount of time, you know, I played for 14 years. And that was like my last season was my last chance to play and so it's just kind of Like there's a little bit of shock I think and then a little bit of just hitting me that I was out of the sport for a while.

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Have you tried to come back or a little bit before season?

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Yeah, I did. So yeah, I took it I was a little it was frustrating too because I took a second season off because I had a knee injury it wasn't anything bad it was just like patellar tilt or something but like every time put pressure on my knee it hurts so I took that season off. And then I came back. I was like working hard and I was just  super excited to come back and I mean not to brag, but I thought like the first two weeks I was playing pretty well. I was like this is gonna be a good season. So it was just that I had worked hard to come back and put in work during off season and then it was like poof you're done.

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How would you assess your mental health following the injury? 

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My mental health, it kind of comes in two pieces so obviously everyone watching doesn't know really, but I dealt with an eating disorder and I think you know, but the first couple years of college I dealt with it too and so that was like hard on my mental health that piece of it because I wasn't working out anymore and so I was still like, I can't eat as much I can't work out and I still want to move. So mental health in that aspect was hard, just like being told to rest and to still eat normally, I was like, but I'm not working, you know, I shouldn't be eating normally, that kind of thing. So that was hard. And then as far as like, mental health toward sport, and that was pretty hard to because I still went to the practices. I still like watch them all play and everything but I couldn't travel with the team and I obviously couldn't play and so just like watching. I'd be watching them on the court and in my head I wanted to go out there so bad so it was hard at times I was wondering if it was even worth recovering for.

After your recovery, what was the timeline in terms of were you able to play, or did you have to retire?

Yeah, so luckily with my broken rib I was able to play after I came back and recovered i guess i think that's about eight or nine weeks that I was able to come back fully, I was still scared to dive and move but like there was no pain when I did it. And so I think at that point, we maybe had five weeks left of the season so luckily I was able to come back it was just hard because I had been off for so long and the team have gotten in their groove and I was kind of scared almost a play now to dive and to move because I was thinking, is it actually healed yet? It's still broken, I don't know cuz we never got a second X ray. So I was able to come back luckily but it was hard to get into because the season was almost over and here I was like trying to get back in the swing of things.

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Who was your support system post injury?

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My biggest support system were my parents, luckily I live close to home so especially on weekends, where we're supposed to be traveling with the team, I would just go home and they would help me with anything I needed, they would always be there for me and, and talk about stuff because I'm not a very talkative person. I don't like to tell them when I'm hurting. But I think my parents kind of understood that and did their best to help me anyway. So I think my parents were definitely my biggest and then it also helped that my roommate was also injured. So that sucked too, but at least we're kind of in it together. We like watch games together.

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Was the journey to recovery harder than you initially thought it would be? In other words, how mentally prepared were you?

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So honestly, I had no idea what to expect from recovery. I guess I never got a big injury. So I was like, I didn't know if it'd be hard or easy. I knew I tended to bottle my emotions up so that could either be easy, make it look easy, but be hard on the inside. But I think one thing that really helped me was, so I found out the news. And then we were traveling that night to an away game. And so my coach was like, you can still come with us since you are intending to come and on the bus, because it's like a two hour drive or something. I ended up watching one of the sermons from my church back home, it was called, follow the cloud. And so it was pretty much that God's sometimes is going to lead you into places that like you don't understand you don't like, like why is this happening? But I just keep following Him because there's going to be something better on the other side. So I think hearing that that first day, honestly, made the recovery process easier for me because, I still was mad, I was still upset. But I was like, I don't know why this is happening. But it's happening for a reason like something better is going to come from it or like it's going to teach me something Yeah, so I think I didn't really know what to go in expecting but looking back now I think that if I hadn't seen that sermon it would have been a lot harder because I would be a lot more like depressed or angry and I was still was those things but I had a hope, I had something to put my hope in and my faith in.

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Now that you've overcome injury, would you have changed anything in the process? If you could go back? For example, would you have wanted to reach out to more people? Do you regret anything?

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If I go back and change anything, it's kinda like yes and no. So I think everything happens for a reason I was meant to go through that like I was, but I think I also would have wished I were to like journal blog is that I don't talk about my feelings. Well, I don't like expressing to other people. I didn't really I don't journaling is a way where I don't have talk to the people, where you can just get all your feelings out. And so I do wish that, I think going back to at least, I had gotten the courage to talk to someone more, or at least have some kind of journal where I could just like scream in my journal kind of thing. So that's one thing I do wish I would have done more of that recovery process.

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What is one positive thing that came out of your injury?

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It's kind of like two parts. I know you said one. But the first I think I really did get closer to God after watching that sermon, and it just like led me to read my bible more and just, like, grow more in my trust in Him. And so I think that really helped. But I think the biggest component was, as I mentioned before, I'd had an eating disorder and it kind of opened my eyes like I mean, I was recovered but not recovered as I needed to be kind of thing and so when I couldn't work out anymore, and I didn't want to eat and then I started feeling horribly I could just really open my eyes like wow, I still have some work to do. And so I know that sounds almost like a negative thing, but it allowed me to like after season three, okay. We need to get some things in place recover from that. And so I think it just taught me a lot about myself and and helped me get to where I am now.

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What would be three mental health recovery tips you can do to an injured athlete watching this video to help cope with their injury?

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1. Find your support system whether that be a parent, a sibling, best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend, or a coach, just someone that you if you're not a big talker that like they understand what you're going through, they know what happened and like they know you well enough to know, hey, she probably needs this or she needs this. Find that support system even if all you do is cry to them or listen to their advice that can really help get you through.

2. Use the opportunity as much as it sucks, use the opportunity to find other things and spend your time on other things too, whether that be trying that cooking class you wanted, or learning an instrument, or reading books morem something that gets your mind off things. For a lot of us athletes, our sport is who we are. And so realizing that no saying that, like you can't care about sports anymore, but just find something else to use your time up. And that takes your mind off of what you can't do anymore. And then third, I would say probably journal. Like I said, I wish I'd done that more and whether it's just crying and writing, whether it's getting a feeling out because you're lonely because you're angry because you're sad. Even journaling, I do that. Now, but back then I wish I had journaled what I'm grateful for more. You might think wow, my life sucks, but I like realizing that there are still good things like I'm alive, I have a support system, I have A,B, and C kind of thing.

3. I know it's hard but always remind yourself that there is something better after this, I know it may not feel like it. But the something good is going to come from this maybe in three months, maybe in three years that you don't know. But looking back, you're going to realize that like this is happening for a reason. So I know it doesn't make it better right now but trying to remind yourself.