At my social old guys basketball game this evening, unfortunately a guy looks to have torn his Achilles Heel. Thinking about the unnatural contour of the tendon I saw up close still makes me a little squeamish.
It was particularly disappointing as the guy joined tonight for the first time. He had hesitated to join, due to worries about potentially repeating a prior injury to his ACL tendon. It was a sorry scene, in shiny brand new shoes he put on for the first time this evening. And quite shockingly, the incident occurred in the first minute on our team’s first attacking play.
At the end of the night, it was a big topic of conversation. One guy on my team felt guilty as it was his pass that was slightly behind the poor guy who had to slow and turn to get it – potentially causing the ominous misstep. I chimed in, it could have also been my fault actually. Me and the injured guy were last to the court and discussed who should go on first, and I encouraged him on.
I joked with one of our organisers, given it’s such a small unofficial association, what’s our public liability cover like – to pay any litigation claims from people injured. He said he didn’t know, then with slight tongue in cheek added, “there’s probably a few guys ahead of him”.
Hope the injury won’t be too serious and he makes a full and speedy recovery.
An update: Scan at hospital confirmed, he’s ruptured his Achilles. Dr Google suggests 6-9 months of recovery. Sad emoji.
