athlete supportConfidenceinjury recoveryMindsetPsychologyTrust
The Fear of Returning to Sport: Learning to Move Through Discomfort
For many teen girl athletes, returning to sport after an injury isn’t just a physical challenge, it’s an emotional one.
Long before the first practice back, worries creep in.
What if I’m rusty?
Will I be able to do what I used to?
What if everyone else has improved while I’ve been sitting on the sidelines?
Will I get hurt again?
These fears are incredibly common. In fact, for many athletes, the hardest part of recovery is navigating the discomfort that comes up.
When you’ve spent weeks or months focused on healing, your body may be recovering, but your mind may still be carrying fear.
Doubting and yourself wondering when you’ll know you’re truly ready. You might default to your doctor or physiotherapist to tell you.
Health professionals and coaches can be amazing at supporting you to identify physical milestones that indicate healing is taking place. Strength, mobility, stability, endurance, and sport-specific skills all matter.
There is this other piece of recovery that often gets overlooked: the emotional and mental piece. It is like an invisible but powerful part of recovery. Your trust in yourself, confidence, and thoughts can influence the outcomes of your recovery profoundly.
Waiting for Confidence
Take confidence for instance. Many athletes assume that confidence will come when they return to sport. They are waiting to feel “ready,” certain, and fearless.
Confidence is a way of being, built by doing.
By imagining yourself healed, back in the game, moving freely again. It is testing out those first movements.
The first drill.
The first sprint.
The first shift.
The first game.
And then listening in to how it felt, what you noticed, and what your body is telling you.
The Difference Between Discomfort and Danger
In my therapy work, one of the biggest challenges I’ve noticed teen girl athletes facing is learning to be with discomfort.
After an injury, it’s normal to become highly aware of every sensation in your body. You may notice soreness, tightness, fatigue, or aches and immediately wonder what has gone wrong.
Your brain is trying to protect you. But sometimes protection can become sensitized. Every unfamiliar sensation can start to feel like evidence that something bad is about to happen. You might even forego paying attention to what’s going on and default to what the professionals have to say.
And this can become a dangerous pattern of mistrusting yourself and your innate and wise cues.
Learning to return to sport often means learning to sit with uncertainty.
You may not know exactly how your body will respond to recovery and you probably feel nervous on some level about stepping back onto the field, court, rink, or track.
This discomfort does not mean you are doing something wrong.
In many cases, discomfort is simply part of growth.
The Skill of Being Uncomfortable
One of the most valuable skills an athlete can develop is the ability to feel uncomfortable and continue moving forward in a safe and supported way.
When my son was learning how to juggle, his mentor was constantly inviting him to try a new move that was uncomfortable. He would get good at something and then a new pattern was introduced. His brain and body were constantly entering a state of discomfort and then returning to comfort and mastery.
Recovery often works the same way.
It’s a fine balance of recognizing that discomfort is part of the process while also learning to listen for the genuine stop signs that signal something needs attention.
The goal is not to eliminate the fears, worries, and discomforts.
The goal is to build trust.
Trust that your body is capable of healing.
Trust that your support team has helped prepare you.
Trust that you can listen to your body and respond appropriately.
Trust that if challenges arise, you can adapt and work through them.
The Story You Choose to Feed
This is where your attention becomes incredibly important.
What story are you feeding?
Which thoughts are you most entertaining?
If you notice yourself focusing only on what could go wrong or avoiding thinking about it altogether because it’s too uncomfortable, consider this:
What if you practiced making space for what could go right?
Learning your mind and body’s strength and potential. Seeing your recovery efforts paying off. Discovering whole new levels of resilience, patience, and determination. Finding joy and connection in unexpected places.
I find visualization can be an incredibly powerful tool during this stage of recovery. Instead of replaying worst-case scenarios, spend time imagining yourself moving confidently, smiling, connecting with teammates, and doing the things you love.
This isn’t about pretending challenges don’t exist. It’s about giving your brain a more balanced picture of what’s possible.
The Gift Waiting on the Other Side
Recovery comes with setbacks, difficult days, moments of doubt, and days when your confidence feels shaky. That doesn’t mean you’re failing.
Athletes who successfully return to play aren’t necessarily the ones who never feel fear. They’re often the ones who learn to carry fear without letting it make all of the decisions.
Beyond the physical recovery lies something very valuable.
An opportunity to discover that you can tolerate and move through discomfort.
The gift of rebuilding trust and confidence in yourself.
And perhaps most importantly, the realization that the skills you develop through recovery don’t stay in sport.
They become skills you carry with you through the rest of your life.
Let’s Keep Walking Together
If this message resonated with you, you’re already part of the community.
I appreciate you!
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Let’s walk this path together with presence, courage, and a little more ease.
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With gratitude,
Chantal
