Back on the Bump

Its been nearly three months since I took that fall from grace after attempting to slam dunk, but yesterday I took another big step in my rehab. As the title suggests, I stepped on a mound for the first time and threw a bullpen. Its taken a lot of hours of physiotherapy and a lot of patience, so it was a very sweet moment for me. I've been throwing about four times a week for the last three weeks to get my arm in shape. Even though I haven't been able to catch a ball thrown to me from over 70 feet, I felt like I was ready to get back on the mound and start to get ready to pitch in a game.

I stepped onto the mound with my heart beating a million times a minute. To say the least I was extremely nervous. You're probably wondering why I would be nervous. There wasn't anyone trying to hit the ball, just the catcher and me, but I was nervous on how I would feel. How my right arm would feel, how my left arm would feel, how good my control would be. I said a little prayer and then I threw my first pitch, my second, third, fourth then fifth. All five of those pitches were balls and were nowhere near the strike zone. My catcher told me to step off the mound and breath, something I had forgotten to do those first few pitches. Once I took the mound again everything started to feel good again. I was throwing strikes and apart from a slight mechanical change in my front arm, I felt great. The ball was coming out of my hand great, I had good control, my change up had movement and I was throwing it for strikes.

This bullpen was far better than what I thought it would be. Everything that I've done up until this point has been worth it. All the hours of physiotherapy, all the time spent sleeping with my arm in a brace, all the time I've spent at home trying to straighten my arm, bend my arm, twist my hand instead of going out with friends have been worth it. I'm still hoping I will be ready by November 2nd for the opening series of the Australian Baseball League against Cavalry. I've come this far, and worked so hard, no reason I can't keep working hard to be ready in three weeks time.

"For nothing is impossible with God" - Luke 1:37