Matildas striker Hayley Raso sees light at the end of the tunnel four months after fracturing her back in a freak collision
EVEN now, four months after it happened, Hayley Raso has to take a deep breath and several seconds go by before she can start to describe the moment she broke her back.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
EVEN now, four months after it happened, Hayley Raso has to take a deep breath and several seconds go by before she can start to describe the moment she broke her back.
Four months of intensive rehab, of learning to walk again, of acute pain and finally daring to rejoin training have brought the Matildas forward to a place where she can believe she will play in this W-League season, and regain her place in the national team in time for next June’s World Cup.
The draw for that, made last Sunday, was a special moment for Raso, bringing into focus the target she set immediately in the aftermath of discovering that a freak collision with a goalkeeper had left her with three broken vertebrae.
Her US club, Portland Thorns, initially gave a bizarrely optimistic prognosis of Raso returning in six to eight weeks. Lying in a hospital bed, learning the extent of her injury and overwhelmed by the pain, Raso knew that was a long way off.
“For a month or so I was in so much pain, the whole thing was gruelling — learning to walk again, going to rehab every day. The amount of pain I was in told me this would be a very slow process.
‘I’ve had a lot of support, but it’s still a very personal battle, and that’s the bit that most people don’t understand.
“It’s not just the bones being broken and having to heal, it’s the mental game. Even now when I’ve been back in training with Brisbane for a week, and doing contact work, it’s really tough.
“It’s a little bit scary after what I went through, every time I get tackled or hit. Getting knocks is part of the game and I’m starting to remember what that feels like.
“I need to understand that the bones are healing well, and the testing we’re doing all the time helps with that. I’m taking each day at a time, and that’s something else to come to terms with.
“In the past when I’ve been injured I’ve had a date to return — with your back, you just can do everything the physios say, tick off each box and see what happens.”
Her targets are lined up, though — to play again this W-League season, and then prove her fitness in the warm-up games the Matildas will play ahead of the World Cup.
“When it first happened the first thing I thought about was recovering in time to play at the World Cup. I’ve got enough time, I might be ready for the game against the US in April, and having the target of the world Cup has helped me to stay positive since it happened.”
The memory of “it” is what makes her pause.
“It’s still really hard to talk about — I still don’t know why it happened, or why it ended up being so bad,” she said.
“But in some ways I feel very lucky to be where I am, after the amount of pain I was in.”
Get every match of the 2018/19 Westfield W-League LIVE. Watch selected matches on TV and live stream the rest. SIGN UP NOW!
Originally published as Matildas striker Hayley Raso sees light at the end of the tunnel four months after fracturing her back in a freak collision
America’s Cup women gearing up for new fight after shock loss
Shocked Australian sailors hugged and cried when bundled out of the women’s America’s Cup. A quick reset and they were gearing up for a new fight - and another crack at winning the event
Surf star’s special Coolangatta Gold moment ahead of 40th anniversary
She was once dubbed the fittest woman in Australia but there’s no going back to the race that made her famous for surf star Hayley Bateup - not even for a special anniversary.