When Your Teammates Keep Playing Without You: Zara Walsh

Zara Walsh plays footy for Sturt in the SANFL Women’s competition. She ruptured her ACL in round five going up for an uncontested mark and spent months working through recovery to get back on the field. This conversation is about the mental challenge of flipping the switch from feeling sorry for yourself to actually doing the rehab.

Zara talks about losing motivation in the first couple of months after surgery, then finding accountability through her support team and scheduled gym sessions. She describes watching old game footage when she needed motivation, seeing her teammates continue playing and getting opportunities while she was sidelined, and the physical reality of one leg having no muscle while the other was fine.

The conversation covers the importance of having teammates who’ve been through ACL recovery before, taking rehab one milestone at a time without rushing, and why she wishes she’d told herself to slow down instead of constantly pushing for the next thing. If you’re struggling to stay motivated or dealing with the isolation of watching your team play without you, Zara’s experience shows how to get through it.

Key insights:

• Flipping the mental switch from self-pity to action is hard but necessary. You can feel sorry for yourself for a while, but eventually you need to work with what you’ve got.
• Having teammates who’ve done ACL recovery before matters. Izzy answered every question Zara had and provided support from someone who actually understood.
• Watching teammates continue playing and getting opportunities is one of the hardest parts. You want to be happy for them but you’re also stuck on the sidelines.
• Scheduled sessions create accountability. Having coaches and teammates waiting for you at the gym means you can’t bail when motivation drops.
• Taking time during recovery matters more than rushing. Zara reckons she pushed too hard and it’s affected how her knee feels now that she’s back playing.

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