Best UK Cable Wakeboarder – Nominees

Kirsteen Mitchell – exploding onto the competition scene winning the Sheffield 10 ft High Series, UK Cable Nationals and a silver at the Europeans with a near upset to World Champion Maxine Sapulette.

Steph Caller –  consistently riding well, winning the WAW Wakestock Girls’ Rail Jam, coming second in the Cable Nationals and wining a bronze medal at the Europeans.

Tor Young – despite niggles from an old knee injury, Tor’s always a strong rider, gaining height and charge to all her tricks as the season progressed, winning Junior Ladies cable National Title, and a Bronze medal at Junior Ladies in the Europeans.

Sophie Cordery – a regular face on the competition circuit, Sophie showed off her increasing arsenal of tricks throughout the season, gaining third place at the Cable Nationals and wrapping up the season being crowned Queen of Cable

Best UK Boat Wakeboarder – Nominees

Charlotte Bryant – despite her season being cut short through injury, Charlotte demonstrated massive progress winning both the Junior and full Boat Nationals and the prestigious title of Wakestock 2009 Champion.

Jules Haley – Nobody has fun out on the water like Jules Hayley. Her infectious enthusiasm drove her to place third at the Boat Nationals.

Sam Filsell – the first Lady of Scottish wakeboarding has shown steady progress with her boat riding winning the overall Loch Stock tour 2009.

Steeze Award (chick with the best styleeeeee) – Nominees

Emily Bebbington – Getting the season off to a fantastic start, Emily won the WWA Rail Jam, beating veteran rail riders Maxine Sapulette and Kinga Horvath. She secured a bronze medal position at the Cable Nationals and placed fourth in the open rails division at Wake MK’s Summer Jam.

Sophie Cordery – killing the rails at the Wake MK Summer Jam, Sophie took the Pro Women title, and out styling all the competition at King of Cable.

Steph Caller –  regular female guest rider at Animal Windfest, Steph grinds the rails with the best of the guys showing she’s got more style than she knows what to do with!

Chloe Goudie – at still only 14 Chloe demonstrates a natural flare and ease on the rails gaining her Silver medal in the Girls division at the Europeans.

Best International Wakeboarder – Nominees

Nicola Bulter – After an incredible 2008 season, she began 2009 winning the first stop on the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour, placing second at the 2009 WWA Wakeboard National Championships, the MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour finale, and the WWA World Wakeboard Championships, and second in the Queen of Wake season standings

Dallas Friday –  in her first full season since an horrific leg break, she returned fitter than ever to win the Wake Games, the USA Pro Tour, Queen of Wake and the World Championships.

Maxine Sapulette – landing S-bends on the cable as standard, Maxine has consistently raised the bar in women’s cable riding, winning the WWA World Wake Park title and the Europeans despite very difficult circumstances.

Raimi Merrit – claiming the title of first female to land an S-Bend on boat, Raimi’s proven to be quite a force with numerous wins including the World Cup in China.

Most Exciting Wakeboard Spot – Nominees

CWC
Hipnotics
Box End
JBski


Best Event – Nominees

Wakestock – Girls’ Rail Jam
Sheffield 10 Feet High Series
Loch Stock Tour
King of Cable


Future UK Star – Nominees

Laura Christian – in her first full season wakeboarding, Laura’s displayed true grit and determination to push her riding as far as possible.

Emily Heffernan –  in her first full season, Emily’s taken her share of slams to progress from venturing towards the rails to, 540 spins and nailing big tantrums. This girl won’t stop till she gets the prize.

Abbie Jones – Abbie really pushed herself this year landing her heel 360’s consistently, tackling the rails and entering her first competition King of Cable.

Harriet Cole – progressing at a ferocious rate, Harriet’s thirst and natural aptitude to wakeboarding saw her progress from knee board to switch riding in two weeks! With dedication and commitment, she was tackling 360’s on the funbox only weeks after starting riding.

Most Inspirational Female – Nominees

Lesley Birch – after losing both her son Ryan and husband Tony in a tragic aircraft accident back in 2007, Lesley embraced her son’s passion for wakeboarding riding in her first competition at their memorial contest.

Danielle Crawford – the female face behind the WWA, Danielle Crawford is a driving force behind numerous global wakeboarding events helping push and progress the sport of wakeboarding.

Sue Boucher – there is not one excuse a woman can use to avoid wakeboarding that Sue Boucher doesn’t quash. This woman is simply incredible, she doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, doesn’t use the heat, the pain, her age, or what anyone will think to stop her setting her sights and giving it 100%. Sue exudes a feeling that every day you’re drawing breath should be an adventure.

Dallas Friday – every athlete has to fight for their position at the top, but Dallas displayed a fighting spirit like no other to come back from serious injury to stay at the top of her game. After suffering no less than nine spiral fractures to her left femur in 2006, new comer to the scene Nicola Butler cleaned up in her absence with an impressive new standard. 2009 was Dallas’ first full season back and not only was she riding fit again, but she won everything with an even higher standard of riding!

Best Contribution to women’s wakeboarding – Nominees

JBSki Ladies Morning
LDB Chicks sessions
WMSki Ladies Mornings
Box End Park Ladies Mornings

Week 7

My follow up appointment with my surgeon Mr Elliot had me a little nervous. I had no idea what he was expecting. I’d been led to believe that there’s a possibility that at this stage, the graft can be particularly vulnerable to tears and damage, so I was bracing myself for a set back. As per usual, I was worrying about nothing! He had a good tug and wiggle of my knee and may as well have patted himself on his back for a job well done!  “oh, it’s stronger than I thought. Good!”. He proceeded to tell me that he doesn’t subscribe to the ‘six week post op weak theory’ and to carry on doing what I was doing, and to see him before I plan to get back on the water in late April! Between Mr. Elliot and Tom, what a team! The down side to all this, was that I was now fit and ready to go back to work, so the end of that honeymoon was definitely over!

Going back to work had the sting taken out immediately as I found myself arriving on the day of the new gym grand opening! Every piece of equipment Tom needed me to use was ready and available for my first lunch break gym session. Now I was really on the road to recovery! It was going to be a slow slog, but getting in the work gym for forty minutes every day at work was going to make a massive difference in a very short time, so I’m hoping!

My knee range meant I could go on the bikes, low resistance, and more sliding on the rowing machines kept bending my knee a bit more each time. Then leg presses, well, not as good as I’d hoped, but we’ll get there. I’m still nervous about hamstring curls after Boxing Day, so we’ll see how we get on there.

Week 8

I postponed seeing Tom for a week as my brother and his family were over from Sydney and I wasn’t going to miss a second of them for anything! However when I did see him, he was pretty pleased with progress, but on hearing about the snowball fight, which I regretted the moment it slipped from my lips, he warned me, “don’t get cocky”! In true Tom fashion, he moved me up to the gym do demonstrate exactly how weak my leg still was. After flailing around one legged on a balance cushion, catching a rugby ball being launched at me and doing one leg dips on the step box, it was abundantly clear that I still had very little muscle mass to protect me if I was to fall. So I was well and truly told! But despite the ticking off, I was assured that I was on track, and Tom wasn’t expecting more than my state of progress at this stage.

I was told to get back in the gym, to work hard, being careful not to strain my knee at risk of creating a new problem. But I was to really concentrate on getting a core strength in place as a 4 month post op strength assessment was imminent at the end of March. Thereafter, he would give me a further month to really work hard at regaining muscle mass. I really want to get my ‘Grrr’ on, but the reality is that I’m going to have to do a little and often to get the basic core strength in place as there’s simply not enough muscle in place to work! But as much as I want to, to really get my muscles working, NO RUNNING.  At least I can get to the gym for about forty minutes every day that I’m at work and make sure I get a Promax shake in me to help rebuild what muscles I’ve got!

After my ‘telling off’, making snow men with my brother’s kids was a slightly less enthusiastic affair! But when you’re in the presence of a 2 year old who’s obviously never seen snow before, it was great to just sit back at let her do all the mental running around!

Week 9

I’m already bored with going to the gym in my lunch breaks! The only saving grace has been that the new kit has an ipod docking station so I can drown out the God awful music they play in there. I want to go to the gym, not the under 14’s disco! But having said that, I’m VERY guilty of getting into the Twilight books, so the disco is probably the most appropriate place for me! But there’s nothing like a few chapters of Vampire teen angst to wile away the time on the cycling machine! I managed over half an hour at my top (allowed) resistance without even blinking! So to make the gym less dull, I’m allowing myself to get very distracted with the ongoing dramas of Edward and Bella! I’m hoping that at this stage of my feeble muscle development that these long toning sessions might just get me to the core strength place I really and quickly need to be.

The Great Outdoors

I had an awesome afternoon with my brother and eldest Nephew down in Padstow at the weekend. After the arduous 5 hour drive to North Cornwall I was instantly greeted by my 6 yr old nephew begging me to go on a bike ride with him and his dad! The weather was just stunning and it was late afternoon so off down the Camel Trail we went! It was the route of an old railway line so an awesome flat easy long stretch! We must have gone miles, at one point being chased by a very enthusiastic Jack Russell with rocket launchers in his feet! All the while my legs and knee felt great, maybe because I was distracted by my brother’s hilarious attempts to scrape the dog poo from his son’s back wheel, only to load up the front wheel with a nice fresh one! Cycle rides on the Cornish coast beats a stuffy old gym anyday!

Abu Dhabi Wakestock Press Trip from Tim Royle on Vimeo.

Abu Dahbi Wakestock Podcast 2 from Tim Royle on Vimeo.

System 2.0 wake park from Tim Royle on Vimeo.

“Wake the pool in Leipzig Germany was a great start to the season for me with big competition from European riders including Maxine Sapulette, Denise De Haan, Sophia Marie Reimers and Tor Young plus numerous German girls!!

It was a great start of the New Year and thanks to my sponsors Sooruz and JBSki. “

Wake The Pool took place at the Beach and Boat Show in Leipzig, Germany and was the first International CWWC Indoor Wakeboard and Wakeskate Contest of its kind. The setup was a Bro in the Box two tower cable system combined with an Obstixx Kicker and Funbox 
in a 55 x 12 metre pool! 86 riders from 6 countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland and Great Britain took part in the categories Wakeboard Open Men, Wakeboard Open Ladies and Wakeskate Open Men.

In the Open Men Wakeboard Category Sebastian Thums (GER) took first place with an impressive run. He started with a high and clean Transfer 360 over the Funbox followed by a massive Off-axis 3 almost reaching the top of the hall. In 2nd place was Nico Lerchenfeld with a 360 Gap and a TS Roll to Revert. Young gun Miles Töller, took 3rd place with a Front board down the A-frame and landed a perfect executed Whirly.

For the Wakeskaters it was Dominik Preisner (GER) who was the best of the pack. With a clean 360 Shuvit on Shuvit off the Funbox Table and again a clean 360 Shuvit off the kicker he took 1st place. Closely followed by Kevin Cobb from (Aus) with SWITCH FS Big Spin and TS BS 180 over the kicker. Tim Schwiertz stuck in the final a “Jimbo Christian air” and took 3rd place.

In the Open Ladies Wakeboard Sophie Cordery (GBR) showed a beautiful Transfer to BS Lip Slide with monster speed on the Funbox and ended with another perfect Tantrum, and took 1st place. It was great to see that Denise de Haan (NED) has fought her way back into the competition after a long and painful knee injury to take a suprise 2nd place. Mona Stenzel (GER), finished 3rd with a nice Nose Press and a high, clean FS 360.

Results:

Open Men Final
1. Sebastian Thums 61.00 GER
2. Nico von Lerchenfeld 58.00 GER
3. Miles Töller 56.67 GER
4. René Konrad 54.67 GER
5. Marvin Kalter 53.33 GER
6. Man Rpp 29.33 GER
7. Freddy von Osten 24.00 GER
8. Mike Rttkowski 15.00 GER

Wakeskate Final
1. Dominik Preisner 63.33 GER
2. Kevin Cobb 50.67 AT
3. Tim Schwiertz 49.00 GER
4. Janik von Lerchenfeld 48.00 GER
5. Marcel Tilwitz 44.33 GER
6. Kritof Zint 23.00 GER
7. Dennis Knasiak 17.67 GER
8. Franz Lacherbaer 10.33 GER

Open Ladies Final
1. Sophie Cordery 62.33 GBR
2. Denise de Haan 58.00 NED
3. Mona Stenzel 55.00 GER
4. Susanne Kruse 52.33 GER
5. Maxine Saplette 28.33 NED
6. Tor Yong 24.67 GBR

For more information www.wakethepool.com
Photos: Patrick Prill + Karin Baptist

Sophie’s triumph as 2009 Queen of Cable saw her land a sponsorship deal with French label Sooruz, and along side Freddie Carter joins CK to form the UK Sooruz team riders. Sooruz will be launching their UK website in the spring, and in the mean time, details of their new products can be found on their FaceBook page.

The Quayside Crew are putting on a ladies only night in collaboration with Wide-A-Wake. This means no boys allowed!

Thursday Nights 4-6pm
The night will include:
1 x hours cable with tuition
1 x 15 min boat tow
1 x hire of wetsuit, buoyancy aid, board and bindings
ALL FOR JUST £30!!!
Standard Price £48

This is a great session for those who are complete beginners to those with more experience and just need some water time with an awesome coach to get that trick nailed! Spaces are limited so get in touch with Phil or H quick before you miss out on this amazing offer! Call Quays on 01252 524375 to book your place.

Don’t forget WAW readers can get a 10% discount on all goods in the Quays shop until Spring.

Check out Laura Christian’s blog about the System 2 at the Quays

Laura Christian writes:
The first time I went to JB Ski, I remember being blown away watching the Raleys! It was so different to anything I had seen before. Sophie Cordery, Kirsteen Mitchell and Sarah Kingdom seemed to effortlessly ‘pop’ out of the water at high speed and spin in the air. I really wanted to be able to do that one day. However once I started learning to ride, that dream seemed an impossibility as I worked hard at getting some basic skills! It was seeing Chloe Goudie at the Nationals raleying in the girls group that really inspired me to want to do it before I was 13… she made it look so effortless and is so skilled. I had heard stories of how painful it was to learn to Raley and of girls who had got knocked out trying. I wasn’t sure I fancied that but LDB reckoned that the System 2 was a good place to learn the technique without so much pain.

I am so glad the winter will soon be over…. so I can hang up my sad looking tadpole hood for another year and look forward to some serious sun. I would like to say a huge thank you for all the support and big encouragement I have had throughout the winter… especially LDB, Sarah Kingdom, Elliott Newman and all the kl guys and gals at Quayside especially Stew Mackie and awesome Phil Mitchell… legend !

Phil Mitchell of Quays said: “Laura Christian is definitely one of the most dedicated and talented young riders I have seen in a long time. Her willingness to learn and the way she responds to coaching is not only inspiring to other riders both male and female but to me as a coach as well. Parents play a massive role in a young persons sporting career the balance of pushing and letting them learn in there own time can make or break a child I think Lauras dad (Neil) has got it spot on. Remember there is no rush!”

Quays is open Tuesday through to Sunday with their System 2.0 in full operation. Quays will be open 7 days from the end of March.

Don’t forget all WAW readers get a 10% discount in the Quays shop until Spring! 

In the run up to Christmas we ran a Wake Fairy competition to keep the festive season as prominent to wakeboarding as any other time of the year! With a Hyperlite JD Webb pullover impact vest and Hurley boardshorts as prizes for our favourite, we’re pleased to announce that Jasmine Noyce’s entry was the winner! We were particularly impressed with her attention to detail, especially the embroidered Hurley logo along her Fairy’s shorts.

Well done Jasmine and to all the other entries we received. Here’s a taste of a few of the others.

British Water Ski and Wakeboard invited Mike Ferraro and Ryan Jones over from the USA to share with the UK wakeboarders some of their insight in a 2 day seminar of both practical and theory coaching. This 2 day seminar was a fantastic opportunity organised by Performance Director for BWSF John Wood to see what techniques these professional trainers use to help their students to understand the physics behind using your body most efficiently, creating solid foundations from which to develop tricks easily and injury free.

The practical day was EPIC, hosted by London’s premiere circus and acrobat training facility The Circus Space. Myself, Kirsteen Mitchell and Tor Young were the female riders invited to take part in the hilarious exercises to demonstrate their techniques. They used bungee harnesses, trampolines and dollies as training devices where the emphasis was to learn tricks off the water, then once learnt, and only then, make the transition to the boat or cable. We were like big kids in the playground, this was the most fun I’ve certainly had in a long time!

They stuck to basic techniques of front roll, back roll and spins, but in intricate detail, showing us how technique above and beyond brawn, guts or glory, was the key to comparatively effortless results. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, you’ve all heard us tell you to ‘never neglect your basics’, and this just compounded that idea. It soon became obvious that to take on their techniques, we were all, without exception, having to over ride years of habit!

The bungee harness was far from comfortable, and it was fair that the boys were a little distracted by this obvious discomfort! That and being suspended in a swinging harness that made them all look like over grown babies in a door frame baby bouncer! Naturally the girls excelled where the boys struggled. They claimed that as we went last, we had more ‘observational experience’ and as that may have been slightly true, we mastered the new front and back roll techniques in a fraction of the time. We were better than the boys. End of.

The statistics that Mike and Ryan offered us for these new techniques were the equivalent of expending only 30% effort as opposed to 70%. There’s no doubt that the tiniest adjustments made huge differences for some of us. If that kind of energy reduction could be applied to most tricks, just imagine how much longer you could ride, how much quicker your recovery time would be, and how much you’d reduce injury risk. This was all good. The techniques explored in the bungee harness were then transferred to the trampolines, where once again the old habits took over and a few comical ‘mal-co’ moments and landing on heads took place before once again everyone grasped the new techniques.

Then it was onto the dolly for spin practice. The challenge here was get us to maintain line tension throughout the spin by using our body differently. Again, the initial brain farts showed up, but revelations once we understood!

Like looking into a secret treasure chest full of little gems of insight, the ideas and food for thought certainly made me excited to get out on the water and give them a go. But more than ever, the practical day reinforced the value of dry land practice and training, perfecting those tricks before the water.

Theory Day

Day 2 was all theory, going over the techniques and ideas of the previous day. Like repeating a trick over and over to build muscle memory, this day was compounding and reinforcing the ideas of the day before, strengthening the mental space of a trick and understanding physical efficiency. Hearing the same basic theories repeated over and over in a number of different ways allowed all of us to ‘get it’ ! Mike and Ryan used video playback from yesterday’s practical day to galvanize their teachings.

They also showed us interviews with some of their athletes like Dallas and Nicola and parents of the Soven brothers to give us an insight into how parents help can sometimes be a hindrance, what motivates the riders and how girls learn, respond and are inspired differently to the guys.

From my point of view, I was thrilled to learn that the likes of Mike and Ryan both fully understand and endorse the idea that girls learn differently and they were very supportive and encouraging of the work we’re doing here at Wide-a-Wake and all the girls only sessions being held.

A big thank you to John Wood and his team at the BWS for organising this event and giving us a taste of what some professional wakeboarders get to experience on a regular basis.

Dates of 2010 girls only boat and cable sessions coming soon. Keep checking the site for details.

But then it happened again a few hours later, but then the real scary one happened a few hours after that when the frying pan slipped off the hob and I turned quickly to save it and “twang” again. This one came gift wrapped with a lot of swearing !! Mum now has a nice round saucepan burn on her kitchen floor, and I spent the remainder of Boxing Day with an ice pack on my hamstring, sulking!

The rest of the week’s progress was pretty much a right off. I was nervous, sore and fed up! I couldn’t believe that after doing so well over the last four weeks, that I’d possibly found myself back at square one.  I wasn’t due to see my physiotherapist Tom Williams until New Year’s Eve, so the prognosis would have to wait. I was back living a sedentary life, icing with no independence again.

week 6

I feel a right prat! I’ve been so disheartened all week since the hamstring ‘TWANG!!!’ that I’ve been a slob, neglected my exercises, started limping again and been really nervous of it pinging… and obviously what Tom Williams will say!

Well, his response wasn’t what I’d braced myself for. In truth, it caught me out a little. He said that he was surprised it hadn’t happened sooner, perfectly normal, in fact, it shows that I’m using my leg properly and getting more confident! Nothing at all to worry about, I’ve just got to take it easy and not aggravate it!  I’m learning that I seem to be focusing on the negatives too much, so I was thrilled to learn that with little conscious effort over the past two weeks (well compared to my earlier good discipline) I now have full bend in my knee! My heel touches my bum! Lots of going down steps has really helped, (useful living 3 floors up in flats!).

So cue NEXT CHAPTER !! New milestone reached and gym work begins! Thank goodness for that as I’ve been getting so lethargic and unmotivated. Now I can get my heart rate up, really start rebuilding my muscles with Promax and feel half human again! I’m sure I’ll change my tune after my first gym session near kills me!!

Makeshift gym!

I haven’t managed to sort out a gym membership yet, and I can use the work gym when I’m back next week, but in the mean time, I’m having to get creative in the living room! With some basic gym tools, a fit ball, ankle weights and stretch band I can replicate the gym workout that Tom Williams has given me.

I cancelled my session with him for next week as without access to a gym, I’d rather see him in a fortnight when I’d had a chance to really work at my program. I’m also seeing Mr. Elliot on Friday, my surgeon for the post op consultation, so I’d rather it not be swollen from exercising too much! Does that sound like an excuse? I’ll have to watch that!

If you missed Sarah’s previous blogs catch up with them here…
Sarah Kingdom Rehab blog - week 4
Sarah Kingdom ACL rehab blog – Week 3
Sarah’s ACL blog, week 2 – First Physio Session
Sarah Kingdom ACL reconstruction blog

Links:
Maxi offer Build Muscle - Progain Extreme - Buy 2 for £69

Already confirmed are current WWA World Series Champion Phillip Soven, WWA Wakepark Champion Nick Davies, Us National Champion Adam Errington, current World Champion and King of Wake Champion Aaron Rathy, European Champion and four times Wakestock UK winner Dan Nott, and the legend Parks Bonifay.

Wakestock’s spectacular history includes musical performances from Talent such as Mark Ronson, Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum, Calvin Harris, N*E*R*D, Groove Armada, The Streets, Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Duffy and the Happy Mondays. Wakestock Abu Dhabi will feature live music from the hottest regional and international Acts during the Wakestock Event starting Thursday 4th March through and including Saturday 6th March 2010.

This latest exciting addition to the Abu Dhabi Sports Event Calendar is the next chapter in the development of the Abu Dhabi Corniche and the delivery of the Municipality’s vision as the “Ultimate Beach Experience”. The Corniche has already seen tens of thousands of people for the Flash Event ‘Yasalam”. The World Class Entertainment for free ahead of the inaugural Formula 1 Etihad Airway Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Relentless Wakestock was established back in the year 2000. The festival is now the world’s leading wakeboarding and music event, and played host to over 35,000 party loving people last year. The wakeboarding competition will, like Wakestock Abu Dhabi, be sanctioned as part of the WWA World Wakeboarding Series in 2010 with the top riders in the world competing by day, and by night will again play host to some of the industries leading bands and DJ’s.

The WWA Wakeboard World Series is a global contest series that brings together the top athletes in the sport of wakeboarding to battle it out for over $200,000 in total prize money throughout the year. In 2010, the series will incorporate 6 different events and will visit 6 countries on 4 continents. Riders will compete and earn points based on their ranking at each event in order to crown an overall winner at the end of the series. Wakestock Abu Dhabi is the first event of the season, setting the pace for the rest of the World Series and determining who will go into the second event in Brazil as the top seeded rider.

Look out for Amber, Hayley Smith, Lauren Ormsby and Kath Moore riding in the Liquid Force Rail Jam Tour 2010 and the Aussie Pro Tour.

The awards are open to youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18, and we’re happy let you know that this year Chloe Goudie from Wake MK and Ellie Taylor from WMSki, both received funding to help with their cable wakeboarding this forthcoming season. Both girls were part of the 2009 British Cable Wakeboard Team who won team Silver in Ukkohalla Finland, where Chloe won a silver medal in the girls’ division. Ellie also got a silver medal at the UK Nationals in the Junior Ladies division. Look out for their progress this year as they get a great boost to their 2010 season.

Related articles
Cable Wakeboard Nationals 2009
Ukkohalla European Championships 2009

Again, I was ‘told off’ for walking with a limp, so this week’s priority is to concentrate on walking slower, smaller steps, but even steps and keep stretching out the last of that calf tension. Who’d have thought after the torture of last week that the knot in my lower leg would have almost completely gone!

Simple pleasures!

My first bath since the operation was amazing! The sterri strips from after having the staples removed had all but fallen off and the wounds now only a little pink, so bubbles, bubbles and a few more bubbles! I’m actually really impressed that I managed to keep my fingers away from the scabs. I’m a picker I’m afraid, and the holes left from the staples heal like little scab plugs! Gross for the non-pickers, but absolute temptation for those who’d like to pull them out like coring an apple! BUT that’s why I have dot scars on my other leg, so gold star to me for leaving them alone and leaving only freckle marks!

Gym determination

On Friday I was treated to VIP tickets to see the Spelthorne Acrobatic Gymnastic Club Christmas Display Now these guys and girls are European and World Champions and I was blown away! The brut strength of the boys and girls even as young as 6 years old was inspiring! These children put any gym ‘juice monkey’ to shame! I felt a right old fatty watching them, 4 men high, doing a triple somersault to land on the crossed hands of the base guys! The tiny girls were doing one handed straddle above another girl’s head! If there was a motivational kick up the booty to get fit again, it was watching the champions in front of me.

Icy roads panic!

Just as my confidence was growing, the bad weather began. The last thing I needed was to slip over on the ice and bust my knee all over again! Crutches weren’t going to save me on the ice! The concrete steps leading out of my flats were very slippery and caught me out on my down step, pushing my knee bend farther than was comfortable! I’m still very tentative and this did knock my confidence a bit. Oddly, I seem to have maintained the extra bend in my knee. I expected it to stiffen up and feel really sore, but it actually didn’t. So what began as a confidence knock has actually had the opposite effect!

Wonky party

The Christmas ‘bash’ at Liquid Leisure was a good acid test of how much my leg could take before I was exhausted and it started to complain. I’d managed to get round the shops without too much discomfort with Nikki and Claire Mansfield, who’s awaiting exactly the same operation from a netball incident. It was more my energy levels than anything that was catching me out. But a new dress and a party for the evening, I was determined to not make excuses and have a good night.

I was certainly in sympathetic company at the Wonky Party. Charlotte Bryant was there, and LDB who’ve both had this operation and been through the lengthy rehab process. As confident as I was to leave the crutches behind for the evening, I was firmly perched on the window sill by the bar for the best part of the evening being plied with wine. Doesn’t get better really! It was nice to see everyone as I was feeling a little house bound and in need of seeing familiar faces. The hangover the next day bought an unwelcome normality. So this is Christmas!

Links
www.activ8rehab.co.uk
www.reboundfitness.co.uk
Spelthorne Acrobatic Gymnastic Club
Maximuscle offer: “Promax - Buy 2, get 1 free” Normal price: £101.97 • Buy for only: £67.98 • You save £33.99 • Expires 12th Feb 2010

If you missed Sarah’s previous blogs catch up with them here…
Sarah Kingdom ACL rehab blog – Week 3
Sarah’s ACL blog, week 2 – First Physio Session
Sarah Kingdom ACL reconstruction blog