The Phone Call

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

It started deep in my belly working it's way up my body, to my throat and out of my mouth. It was raw, piercing, followed by shallow breathing and sobs. I remember lowering the phone. As I put it back up to my ear I heard" Tyshawn, are you there?"

Rewind to Sunday, with less than 10 minutes left to go in the National final my team was mounting a come back. The ball was moving from left to right and came into the hands of Vanesha at fullback. By now I moved out one spot to wing and was running in support of V down the right side. Suddenly, in mid stride I felt a quick stab of my left leg. V dummied to pass but kept the ball. The next thing I remember was summoning Dr. Bartoli on the field in attempt at a quick stretch of my leg. The game ended. Unbeknownst to me the news of my questionable health traveled to Little Rock. By the time I was shaking it on one leg at Liam Fitzpatrick's that night plans had already been made to replace me for the upcoming tour to Dubai.

Fast forward to Monday morning. I took a 7:30am flight to LaGuardia. Shortly after 11:00am I was home. I dropped my bags and checked my email. The most recent message was sent at 10:52 am by Jules. She said we had to speak today. I called her and got voice mail. She called me back three minutes later. We talked for just over four minutes. I was hopeful talking about my plans for aggressive PT and pool sessions. Jules touched on a few things my training, improved fitness numbers, the Bahamas, and then I heard her say, " So I'm afraid I'm going to have to replace you."