I recently pulled my hamstring. Now this isn’t breaking news, I know, but bear with me.  As a Bryn Mawr athlete you have two options when you become injured 1) Tell Terry the athletic trainer or 2) wallow in pain until it goes away or gets worse. For the untrained eye the decision is simple, option one obviously. Which is true, unless there is a story behind the injury.

After this weekend I decided to take stock of how my list of pulled muscles have happened and trust me these weren’t my shining moments. Freshman year as we crashed the International Dance I decided to show off my moves and drop it like it was hot. Injury: Pulled Groin. Sophomore year during a dorm room dance party I wanted to wave my luscious locks and whip my hair back and forth. Injury: Whiplash. And last but not least this weekend Lil Jon and the Eastside boys told me to touch my toes so I obliged. Injury: Pulled Hamstring. Other stories of unforeseen tales of other athletes include losing a fight to a vending machine for pretzels-injured knee and kicking a girl in the calf resulting in a broken toe.

Trust me I definitely thought about changing my story, but I couldn’t think of anything…literally. So, with each injury I had trudge down to the training room look Terry in the eye and recount my tragic tales. And every time I received some of the many faces of Terry. First there was the “Seriously” face, which is easy to spot as he says “seriously” with a raised eyebrow. Then the “Again” face- the disapproving head shake with closed eyes. And, my personal favorite, the “I-Can’t-Even-Handle-You-Right-Now” face- hand pressed against the forehead and temples, other arm crossed over torso, and a sigh.

So as a public service announcement to those dancing fiends out there, stretch a little before hitting the dance floor.  It could be the one thing standing between you and many embarrassing “oh remember that time when…” moments.

To be continued