Re: [sumo] Injury and Rikishi By Oguruma Oyakata

[Joe Klemmer <klemmerj@webtrek.com>]

On Sun, 2003-06-01 at 03:54, Joe Kuroda wrote:

> Injury and Rikishi 
> By Ogurma Oyakata (former Ozeki Kotokaze)
> -----------------------------------------
> 
> My sumo life was the battles against injuries. 
[...]
> Injury is a part of being a rikishi. But the important
> thing is to face straight up to the injury.

	This is a wonderful piece.  It reminded me of the long ago time when I
played (American) Football and ran Track.  There were some who were able
to come back from injury and others who just couldn't.  I remember one
kid who had the potential to be a really good, possibly great, running
back.  He got a slight knee sprain and just never came back from it. 
The knee was healed fine but he couldn't get his head back into the
game.  Then there was this other guy who was feared as a defensive
lineman.  He broke his fingers early in the season but no one, not even
the coaches, knew.  He ended the season as one of the best in the league
and only afterwords did we find out he also tore cartilage in his knee
and had an injured shoulder.

	I'm wandering a bit off-topic so I'll try and bring things back.  All
athletic endeavors have injury as a constant companion.  Some are quite
small, others are career ending.  But the majority fall in the middle
ground.  How a competitor comes back from these kind of injuries makes
the difference between the average and the exceptional.  Ozeki Kotokaze
is an exceptional man.

-- 
Paradise; can it be all I heard it was?
I close my eyes and maybe I'm already there.

[EndPost by Joe Klemmer <klemmerj@webtrek.com>]