Thomas Campbell is a senior forward on the UNC Greensboro men's soccer team. This year will be different for the three-year starter, however. Campbell, UNCG's leading scorer last season, will be sitting out his redshirt season while recovering from a knee injury he suffered last spring. Each Friday, Campbell will blog about the Spartans' soccer season, his teammates, his classes and his journey back to the soccer pitch in the rehab process. Today is the second installment.
Where do I start? (Remember, I am still new to this whole blogging thing, although I am getting the hang of it and have to say that its pretty fun.) First, I would like to thank everyone for reading my blog and returning to read week No. 2. In last week's blog, I started to tell you about rehab and the upcoming weekend.
The UNCG Kickoff Classic – our annual tournament – began on the 5th with Elon facing Old Dominion in the afternoon followed by our game against Winthrop at 7:30. We came out very sluggish and were down 1-0 at halftime. At about the 55-minute mark a Winthrop player was red-carded so we were a man up. Winthrop scored again a couple minutes later to make it 2-0. With about 15 minutes left we scored two goals to tie the game, 2-2. Not even 15 seconds after the tying goal, though, they scored a third goal and we lost 3-2. It was a tough loss once again.
The team took Saturday off because we had another game on Sunday against Old Dominion. I also took the day off from rehab to let my hamstring loosen up. We ended up losing to ODU as well, so we are now 0-3. It's not a very good start and it is very frustrating for me to sit and watch, knowing I can't go out there and help my teammates. I can't even sit on the bench anymore; I find myself at the end of the bench by myself thinking about what can be done to better the team.
I have started a new rehab regiment, Mondays and Thursdays are my hard days, Tuesdays and Fridays are my max out days and Wednesday and Saturday are my footwork and plyometrics day. So I am doing rehab every morning and lifting in the afternoon. Tuesday's rehab was the hardest so far. After the second exercise, I was exhausted; and by the last exercise I was about to throw up. I am also doing cardio work everyday after my afternoon lift switching from the bike, to the elliptical, to the pool.
The team has had a decent week of training and I think we are ready to get our first win this weekend. We are playing at Elon in their tournament against East Tennessee State on Friday and UNC Ashville on Sunday. It is very important that we get a win under our belt this weekend and gain some momentum as we head into conference play.
On top of all of the soccer, I have had a busy week of classes. I am taking all 300+ level marketing classes, so my work load is very tough. I had a presentation on Monday and a presentation on Wednesday, so I haven't had much sleep this week. I have been up late every night preparing for presentations or reading material for the next day's class. It gives me a sense of realization that I am almost done with school when I am working more than normal.
This past weekend was a great football weekend. I love watching the NFL and NCAA football. I am sure everyone saw that Tom Brady tore his knee up – reportedly his ACL and MCL. Seeing that just makes me realize that it can happen to anyone. It is nerve racking every time I see an athlete go in for a tackle or a someone get hit in the knee thinking about how hard the recovery is because I do not wish that upon anyone. But seeing top athletes like that getting hurt as well just gives me more motivation to get back knowing that they will, too.
I look forward to this upcoming weekend and I hope the team is ready to get our first win. I look forward to next week's blog, as well. Adios.
Thomas Campbell, #7
- UNCG -