Hamstring stories

Life is a sequential cycle of happy, sad, life, death, winning loosing – and you know what. These extremes keep us in balance by the act of being out of balance. Like the rest of the human sapiens on earth I’m also subscribed to this weird rhythm. Let me explain.

Squash. A word that brings up a myriad of images. Like the time you wished a big African python would squash your brother, mother, sister, father or anyone who deserves your indignation. Or squash an orange to get the sweetest OJ, cool and refreshing on a summer day. ‘I squeezed that girl’ brags the sixteen year old to his wide eyed hormone injected buddies.

But then there is squash – the sport. A racquet sport played by two people on an inside court. I love squash – never played in America, most Americans don’t know the sport squash (they know the other squashes).

Eugene is a psychologist and one of my squash partners in SA. A fortnight ago we played a round, he obliterated me (like squashed the heck out of me). I experienced loss, humiliation and my determination to win him resolved into dreaming before sleeping how I will play in certain circumstances. We played for a second time, he squashed me again. Third time out I squashed him, fourth time I squashed the heck out of him. Last Thursday we played a pretty even matched game, I stretched for a ball against the back wall and then it happened …. Tweeee,tweeee (not a bird entering the court), my hamstring stretched to the maximum and relenting under the pressure snapped! Winning, loosing, fitness, brokenness an endless cycle of on, off.

My hamstring is rehabilitating, under the careful supervision of a physiotherapist. I can’t run, walk, swim or do anything on my leg. My inactive leg is forcing my other muscles to overcompensate; they are picking up the slack.

When the physiotherapist told me ‘NO EXERCISE’ it felt like a jail sentence, and enforced physical Sabbath. I’m trying to make the best of it – my goal is to write a few reflections on my hamstring and what it is teaching me about the Body of Christ. Consider this the introduction.