In August of 2003, I started a journey, one which proved to be a far more difficult challenge than I had imagined. It was also a journey which I consider one of my greatest life accomplishments. On my first day reporting for the BYU Women’s Volleyball team, I met Gaye. I walked into the training room of the Smith Fieldhouse, about to start my mandatory physical, when Gaye reached out her hand firmly and said, “I’m Gaye”. I shook her hand and listened to her tell me how she would be responsible for healing all of my bodily injuries during my time as an athlete at BYU. She told me that I was expected to play through normal aches and pains but if anything felt abnormally painful or just not right, that it was my job to tell her immediately. I didn’t know how helpful this advice would prove to be as a metaphor for life. I also had no idea that over the next five years, in addition to treating my many physical ailments, Gaye would synchronously heal me emotionally, mentally, and spiritually too.
Over my five-year rollercoaster of BYU Volleyball, Gaye was a constant caretaker: always putting the team’s success and the athlete's well-being first. Not many people truly understand the sacrifice, joy, pain, passion, and true satisfaction that comes with being a college athlete. Gaye does. And she understands that to succeed you need to be strong. You need to be strong physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
I feel grateful that I was one of the lucky ones to be changed by her and I feel sad for future athletes who won’t know her. She is a hero. She is an angel.
Thanks,
Catherine "Parker" Fishback
No comments:
Post a Comment