My Life as a White Belt - Injury

Injury:

                Tuesday night after BJJ 2 + 3 class the gym runs this class called tournament rounds.  It’s technically a BJJ 4 class, but I have noticed that several white belts attend on a regular basis.  So I decide to give it a shot.  Coach Tom separates us on the mat from big to bigger to biggest.  I hang out in the bigger section and hope to find some other white belts to roll with.  The blues and higher intimidate the hell out of me still.  Okay, if I am being honest, it is my ego that tends to avoid them.  My limited experience has shown me that I am able to make very little headway against them.  We start off with some positional sparring and I have some success and some failure, but more than anything I realize how much I can learn from these things.  Gaps in my game flash like neon signs in front of me. 

                I spot this hardcore looking guy that I haven’t seen at the gym before.  Shaved head, tattoos – turns out to be one of the many Nicks at the gym (definitely the most common first name!).  We roll and it becomes evident that we’re fairly evenly matched.  Both of us ramp things up until we’re going after each other pretty intensely.  I get an Americana on him, but can’t finish it because he’s Gumby’s cousin.  He reverses me and gets a body triangle from the back.  Straining, breathing, struggling…  POP.  He submits me with a rear naked choke and we disentangle ourselves.  Something isn’t quite right, but it’s time to move on to the next partner.  My conditioning still isn’t up to snuff and I was already wheezing like a wildebeest after a stampede before the last roll.  Now every inhalation brings a sharp pain in my ribcage.  I continue to roll until I just can’t take the pain anymore.  I head home without mentioning it to anyone.

                It’s hard to sleep.  Every time I roll over or try to breathe deeply I get that sharp pain.  I toss back a couple of ibuprofen and try to make the best of it.  I have to ask myself what it is exactly that I’m trying to accomplish.  What if I broke a rib or something serious?  I don’t have health insurance at the moment and a major injury would pretty much redefine my life in a very negative way.  Am I pushing too hard?  Trying to do too much too soon?  I need to talk to the coaches and see what they advise.

                (…one fitful night of sleep later…)

                Coach Eric and Coach Tom tell me that what has most likely happened is that I popped a rib through some cartilage, and while it can certainly be annoying if I am careful I can continue to slow roll.  The key is getting enough rest and communicating well with my partners.  I can manage that.  I do not want to stop training.  I’m learning so much and having so much fun.  This is an eye-opener though.  I’m not twenty-five anymore and this isn’t going to heal in a couple of days.  I need to understand my body’s limits and pace myself accordingly.  One of the things that Coach Tom tells me really sticks in my brain:  “You’ve started a journey, Dan, and it isn’t a race.  A black belt is a white belt that didn’t quit.” 

                Well, I’m not quitting.  I am going to be smarter about this, though.