DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
In rehabbing for the past month, Wahine middle blocker Maja Gustin has spent time in the pool rather than on the court.
Injured Gustin sharpens You can understand what middle blocker Maja Gustin's life has been like the last month if you've ever had to watch from the sidelines.
skills in swimming pool
The Rainbow Wahine middle blocker
is learning a lot about life while recovering
from her broken footBy Grace Wen
gwen@starbulletin.comRehabilitating an injury is a lonely process for any athlete, but it can seem even more solitary when you play a team sport. Gustin has spent the past month off her feet and in the pool trying to maintain top physical condition. The gentle giant has missed Hawaii's last 12 matches and has had to cheer for her teammates from the bench while waiting for the stress fracture in her left foot to heal.
Gustin can only watch as her teammates lace up their volleyball shoes and pull up their knee pads. Her practice gear consists mostly of a bathing suit and goggles.
"She's been very compliant, doing everything she needs to do and going beyond," trainer Renae Shigemura said. "She's staying in condition. She's been working out in the pool, lifting weights, doing her rehab with no complaints. It's hard to deal with an injury like this. You're not around with the team a lot of the time. You feel disconnected. She's been a trooper essentially."
When Hawaii was in Texas last week for two conference matches, the 6-foot-2 middle blocker was left at home for the first time in her Wahine career.
She had a hard time following the games over the radio and said it was an odd experience listening to her teammates play.
"I never did that and I think I will never do that again because I cannot track one thing," Gustin said. "It's just so hard. I never did that before."
Rehab is also hard, but in a different way. Gustin spends 90 minutes in the pool five times a week and lifts weights on alternate days. Her pool exercises include swimming 40 laps of 25 yards at full or three-quarters intensity and jumping with a weighted belt in the water.
To break the monotony of the workouts, Gustin has incorporated exercises with balls to help maintain hand-eye coordination. She works with a UH swim coach to develop drills that simulate rising off the ground and attacking a ball.
In one exercise, Gustin treads water then bursts high above the surface to catch a ball aimed just above her head. She poses like a water polo player rearing up to fire a shot into the goal.
"We mutually decided to involve a ball so she'd continue to react," UH swim coach Andy Deichert said. "She is as responsible for coming up with this as me. She probes and she tries to find a better way of doing things.
"It's a team sport. The ball comes (at a player) in different ways so it's important to keep sharp. When she's tired, she still has to keep sharp."
Gustin proudly boasts that she can hold her breath swimming an entire lap and a half before coming to the surface for air. When she first started, she struggled to finish half a length of the pool without pausing for air.
The Slovenia native doesn't deny that rehab has been tough, but not so much the physical aspect as the solitude of it.
"Here, I'm always by myself," Gustin said. "I'm used to having people around me to cheer, to support each other. Over here, I'm by myself. I'm cheering myself."
It was supposed to be a season of elation for Gustin. She was returning to her favorite spot on the court and there were a lot of expectations for No. 2 Hawaii.
Gustin stayed in excellent shape through the spring and the summer. She trained intensely with the Slovenia national team before coming back to fall practice with Hawaii.
"It's incredible. I was ready (to go back to the middle)," Gustin said. "The summer came and everybody was like 'we're so happy' and I was happy, too.
"In the beginning of my injury, I was like 'I want to play, I want to play.' But then I realized really quick that the injury brings me something else, something else deeper. It allowed me to go to another level. I'm the person who doesn't want to stay here and be just as I am. I want to grow."
It is that outlook and the belief that everything happens for a reason that helped her stay positive through the experience. Plus, she believes focusing on anything negative is a waste of energy.
Gustin said that she's ready to be back in action but knows there isn't an immediate need for her to return. The break from volleyball has been good to her and revived her enthusiasm for the game.
"I just really want to have fun. I realized that to have discipline brings you to some freedom," Gustin said. "When you're lazy, you don't feel good. If you have discipline, it brings you to the point where you deserve to have fun."
Having fun is not a right every woman is given and Gustin reminds herself of that often. A two-week trip to Africa over the summer left a lasting impression. Gustin witnessed the treatment of women in Libya, Tripoli and the south Sahara.
"It was a very, very good experience," Gustin said. "I was thinking, 'I can't complain.' A stress fracture? If I compare a stress fracture with those women I saw who have to be covered.
"They can't run, they can't swim, they can't play volleyball. There are things in life worse than this, I can't complain. I should be thankful for this."
Her teammates will just be thankful when they can play alongside her again. It has been two years since outside hitter Lily Kahumoku has been on the court with Gustin.
Kahumoku sat out last season for personal reasons, but she remembers a scary front row that included her, Gustin, and Kim Willoughby.
"She's one of my best friends," Kahumoku said. "Maja is the most spiritual person I know and she has a lot of faith and she's true to herself. It's been a challenge for her and it's a test of her patience through all that she has to endure. She's worked hard on her rehabilitation."
When: Today and tomorrow, 7 p.m. UH vs. Notre Dame
Where: Stan Sheriff Center
TV: KFVE (Channel 5)
Radio: Live, 1420-AM
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