by Nick Kasa
When I first got injured, my mindset went to a negative place. It was an end to my year. But since that first reaction, I realized that there was no point in sulking, and I have been able to look past it and see some of the positives.
First, if it had to happen, it couldn't have happened at a better time. I have the full year to rehab this, to get my leg right, and I can focus on that without having to worry about playing each week. Of course I want to get better as quickly as possible, but I'm not rushing it. I have the time to get it right. I have to focus on getting it right. At this point, it's more annoying than anything since I'm not that mobile. I can walk a little bit, but I can't straighten my leg all the way yet. My recovery is going well. I started walking around on it, and pretty soon I'll be able to get rid of the brace that's keeping it straight and start walking around like a normal human being. I kind of look like a pirate with a wooden leg right now! But it's a lengthy injury, and I'm trying to be patient since it is what it is.
I spend about three to four hours a day with our team's physical therapists. We're doing a series of exercises to build up muscle and get my knee to bend and straighten so that my leg can have full range of motion. Then I do some exercises at home, which are not as intensive, mostly just walking around and trying to bend my knee while I'm on the couch. I am also using this time to finish school. I had three classes left to graduate, and now I can work on completing those. So I'm taking those classes online. The coolest class I'm taking is definitely a sociology class that focuses on criminology. My first major (before I switched to communications) was sociology, so I always find that kind of thing interesting. I'm not sure when, but I would like to walk at graduation at some point.
So, I'm trying to preoccupy and distract myself with positive things and not worry about what I cannot control. I'm finding some positives in a very negative situation. And I'm trying to see this as an opportunity…an opportunity to focus on football without playing football each week, an opportunity to focus on getting better without preparing for the Denver Broncos or the San Diego Chargers next week.
Plus, the team has been really great about helping some of us injured guys get around. And they set a few of us up with a suite at the game last week since we can't be down on sidelines. Since I'm on IR, there's only so much I can do with the team, but I'm doing everything I can.
I'll live and I'll be back. This is not the end of my career. I just need to stay on track. My goal right now is to get in as good of physical and mental shape as I can so that come training camp next year, I can compete for that starting position again. My goal is to be that guy, and I'm going to work toward that every day. And if I do get that starting position, I will keep climbing from there.
Thank you to NFL Player Engagement for providing Raiders.com with Nick Kasa's blog. You can find more from players around the league at http://nflpe.sportsblog.com.
