MARIAH WHALEN

I have been so extremely blessed with a few major injuries and career rocking experiences! Woo!! 

A little bit of backstory: 

When I played indoor volleyball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison I had three knee procedures and three different injections in the span of 18 months. There were times where I was healthy, happy, and ballin’, but most of my time there was dictated by an unhealthy swollen, angry knee. At the end of my sophomore season, I made an extremely tough decision to leave the University of Wisconsin in order to have the opportunity to continue my career. I really had two options: play on a softer surface and give beach volleyball a shot, or medically retire and stay in Madison. 

Excited to finally chase a healthy season with a renewed passion for life, I transferred to Cal Poly to play for their beach program. My first 6 months there went PHENOMENALLY. I still really can’t express how stoked I was to be where I was, the people were so amazing, and I still do believe that Cal Poly is the greatest university on the planet. But the Universe has a funny way of keeping things in check and COVID came out of nowhere. Obviously, there were more important byproducts of the pandemic, but in the life of an athlete having your sport snatched from you regardless of the cause can flip your world upside down if you let it. 

I picked myself back up and made it to fall season. During that last week of training in the fall of 2020 I recognized that my body was hitting a massive wall; I’m not one to complain about workouts, pain or grinding through things but this wall was physically the biggest one I had ever encountered. On that Wednesday, I dove to cover a ball of the block and my elbow got stuck in the sand tearing my labrum. A few drills later I went to serve a ball and tore my rotator cuff. The majority of surgeons were recommending surgery, but I followed the minority opinion to rehab for 6-12 months and see how it goes!

By this time in my career, I was so over it. I hadn’t played a healthy season. I was so over the bullshit of battling back from injury and having seasons taken. The series of events led me to question the path that I had chosen and leaving me wanting to abandon my volleyball career. This sounds like a dramatic thing to say but when it felt like season after season was taken from me and I felt like I had everything I could, the amount of grief and letdown was enough to make me feel like my pursuit was no longer justified. I took time off indefinitely.

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It was one of the only injuries where I felt like I went through it alone. Not only did I feel extremely isolated because of COVID protocols and my roommates being gone at practice for most of the day, but school was kicking my butt and rehab was painful. After rehabbing back and joining my team again 4 weeks into the season, I finally got to play a season of college athletics! What I didn’t realize until after our season ended this past May was that I was meant to go through a lot of that journey alone. I was meant to be in a situation where I had to find that gratitude for my experiences, for the people around me, and for my support system. I also needed to find that power within myself and what I was capable of doing. 

But there’s another reason I went through what I did and I think the majority of athletes who have been challenged by injuries would agree. It wasn’t until months after I was on the phone with my coach debating whether or not to quit where he helped me to recognize that not only do injuries come when you need them the most, but they force you to operate differently. They truly force you to stop and think about what you're doing, where you are going, and if you approach it as an opportunity to do things differently – you can come out better because of them. 

Here are some of the lessons that I have learned:

1. Your mindset determines everything! Be positive.

           a. Things happen for you, not to you. 

               - There were so many times where I would get upset about my situation and wonder why it was happening to me. But what I realized is that you can only control what you can control, let go of what you can’t. This means changing your mindset to enjoy the little things along the way…even the “bad” things, because they will shape you into the person you are capable of being. In the end, everything happens for your benefit. These experiences will bring a plethora of extraordinary people and things to learn!

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            b. Even when you don’t think you can make a difference…you can!

              - I always felt extremely fortunate to have the teammates that I did at Wisconsin. They are all amazing and standup people. Watching them during practice while I was injured was very inspiring. They were competing and challenging each other during practice; day after day the level of play was climbing. While I was injured I felt like I wasn’t contributing my part because I was so secluded doing my rehab on the sideline. So I took it upon myself to absolutely crush rehab(all three times). I didn’t really realize the impact that my injury had on the team…during a camp when asked who their most inspirational teammate was, one by one they all said that I was their most inspirational teammate. Not only was I shocked but hands down that has been one of my favorite college volleyball memories and one of the coolest things that has ever happened. 

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              c. Be the perfect opponent for your challenges!

               -  You can do anything you’re willing to adapt to! Every struggle is an opportunity to be resilient and grow. 

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              d. Have nothing but gratitude and love for people, opportunities, experiences, and yourself!

               - The most important thing you can do is to be an incredible person first, and you can do this by being grateful for the little things, the people in your life, the things that make you happy, and the opportunities to grow!

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2. There’s a significant amount of beauty and joy in those moments where you get shoved outside your comfort zone. 

               a. You can either choose to give up and sink or learn to swim. It is in those moments, both big and small, where change occurs and gratitude is built. 

If you're close to giving up…pick yourself back up. It’s worth it.