A Hard Weekend

On Sunday afternoon, we were to play Tormenta in the Ecuadorian league. It rained off and on all day, and when we got to the field, it was very slick. Our coach warned us to be careful, as the field itself isn't in great condition anyways, and the rain just added to the danger of turning an ankle or knee.

Not fifteen minutes into the match, Adriana, one of our defenders, went for a tackle on a running opponent, lost her footing and slipped. It would have been a non-issue, except she caught her cleat in the mud. I had just stripped the ball off our opponent when the ref blew the whistle to stop play, and it took me a few seconds of seeing my teammates' behavior to realize that something very bad had happened.

When I reached Adriana, I saw that her left foot was turned at an awkward angle and there was a bump under her sock and shinguard that wasn't supposed to be there. She was yelling at Vanessa, our coach, to fix it, to do something, but there was nothing any of us could do, since none of us are trained medics. Sabina yelled for someone to call 911, and Vanessa did. Later, she told me that rationally, she had known she had to call 911, but it was like her brain had stopped functioning for a moment.

It wasn't until the medics got there and cut off her shinguard and sock that we really saw how bad it was. It was like her foot had disconnected completely from her leg and the only thing holding them together was some skin. Later we found out that it was only her shinguard that kept the bone from actually breaking through the skin. Everyone was really shaken up and emotions were running really high. It didn't help matters that the other team, Tormenta, were standing around laughing and joking like nothing was wrong. Some of my other teammates claim they heard them making snide remarks and deriding the whole situation. I heard nothing. But I did see them laughing and smiling, and both Romina and Sabi commented on it as we were standing there watching the medics wrap Adriana's ankle in ice. Romina wanted to know "Why the fuck are those bitches smiling?" and Sabi added, "There's nothing funny about this." Tormenta aren't known for respecting their opponents, and while I know there's no love loss between our teams, I don't put it past them to make snide remarks, even in such a serious situation.

I didn't really realize how shaken up I was until I got home and was able to kind of process everything that had happened. I guess I kind of got on auto-pilot and just started doing whatever needed to be done--gathering things up, making sure my teammates were okay, etc. It took awhile for it to sink in just how bad the whole situation was, how bad the injury was.

Vanessa called me last night to let me know that Adriana had had surgery to put some screws into her ankle. The dislocation had been fixed the night before, but there were still some broken bones that needed to be repaired. The big concerns now are how she heals, and how she and her family are going to pay for this. Vanessa mentioned that the league will probably take up a collection from all the teams to help with the costs.

Whether there will be some sort of action taken against Tormenta remains to be seen. No one in the league likes them, precisely because of their lack of respect for other teams/opponents, and the way they acted on Sunday was inexcusable. Luckily (I guess) Adriana's injury was an accident. If it had been caused by a bad tackle, I think there would have been hell to pay.

For now, we're just focused on making sure Adriana is okay and her family has the help they need. So if you have any good thoughts to spare, please send them our way. Thanks. :)