Celebrating for Teammates: Mindset of Injured Griffins

Written By Katelyn Frattaroli 

To spectators, an injury is a part of football culture. When a player goes down on the field, another quickly takes their place, and the game continues. Yet, what is not put on display is the injured player, who is now not only physically hurt, but mentally strained. 

“The season can be over as quickly as it started, and that is a scary thought,” said Boden St. Marie, a sophomore psychology major and quarterback. “As a team, this season, I feel like I have seen a lot more injuries.”

“These injuries have been difficult for a lot of us,” said Colton McCartney, an English education major and offensive lineman. “Athletics is a big part of our lives, we spend our whole year working to get better. We’re here all summer working out with our strength coach and spending time as just players watching film, practicing technique, and teaching the incoming freshmen the expectations we have as a program.”

With only a few games under their belt, the Griffins have a number of athletes injured. 

These injuries mentally affect both the individual player and team morale, and ultimately their future football season. 

“Getting injured this early into the season is devastating,” said McCartney. “It’s never something anyone hopes for, watching from the sidelines, but during fall camp, we talked about Mudita, which is the idea of experiencing joy for the success of others.”

McCartney continued, “Seeing my teammates score a touchdown or make a big play, I’m excited for them, I make sure everyone knows that they did something great, and I celebrate not just alongside them, but for them.” 

While watching your position slip away can be hard for some, Cody Rubrecht, a junior engineering major, and currently an injured slot receiver, stated, “The only thing that didn’t bother me was seeing someone take over my position because I want my teammates to be as successful as they can be and I root for them more than I root for myself.”

The pressure of change and isolation strikes everyone on the team. “I do feel isolated from the team in a way. Since I’m not able to practice or play in games with my teammates, I don’t see them as much or get to talk to them as much as I used to,” commented Rubrecht.

Unlike Rubrecht, sophomore accounting major and currently injured wide receiver Zack Schrockman, explained, “I don’t feel isolated from my team because my teammates have helped me through this process.” Schrockman continued, “I do feel isolated from my position, though, because I had just started to have the role on my team that I have been working so hard for, and now I don’t know if I will still have the same opportunity when I get back.”

As an athlete, healing your body is only one component of getting back on the field. On top of hours at physical therapy, these college athletes have to mentally accept their unknown future with their team, position, and even their identity. 

While the Griffins strive to keep a positive mindset, the mental struggles of being sidelined eventually impact some players and their mental health. Schrockman stated, “My injury hasn’t affected my mental health too much but has definitely put some stress and anxiety on me.” Schrockman continued, “Most of this comes from myself knowing that I’m going to have to miss multiple games when I have put in so much time in work for this season.”

Similarly to Schrockman, Rubrecht explained, “My injury did affect my mental health for the first two weeks of my injury, but I was able to adapt to the circumstances and realize what will need to happen to continue playing football in the future. After those two weeks I wasn’t going to let this injury keep me down.”

Football is bigger than injuries. As St. Marie stated, “In regards to our teammates that are hurt, injuries are a part of football.” Both injured and non-injured athletes are physically and mentally challenged throughout the football season, but the game must go on. 

St. Marie explained, “We definitely miss the players we could have had, but looking too far forward or too far back won’t benefit us at all.” St. Marie continued, “As a team we understand it’s next man up and there’s a job to get done that doesn’t care what our situation is.”