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Hamstrung James to take on Lions
15 August 2003 Herald Sun
By TIM MORRISSEY
HEATH James has torn his hamstring more times than he's played for the Sydney Swans.
Wait is over: Heath James prepares this week for his first game since Round 10 in 2001. Picture: Phil Hillyard
But after an emotional and almost soul-destroying rehabilitation program, the 23-year-old key-position player is hoping that's all about to finally change.
On Sunday, after 11 hamstring tears and one reconstructed patella tendon, James will play against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba for his sixth senior game.
Recruited at the 1998 national draft, James hasn't played senior football since tearing his hamstring in half against Collingwood in Round 10, 2001. A year later James was set to make a comeback against Fremantle when he snapped a patella tendon at an Auskick clinic.
"I went home that day and I didn't know what to do with myself," James said. "I couldn't work out what I'd done wrong, whether I'd run over a black cat.
"I just sat there and thought, `What have I done to deserve this?'."
That night James cried down the telephone line to his mum in Adelaide, and not for the first time.
"My mum has copped a barrage of calls from me and has had to cope with a lot," he said. "Every time I tore my hamstring and when I did my knee, I was always straight on the phone to mum.
"My girlfriend has copped a bit too, but I think my mum and dad ? everyone ? are pretty happy for me now."
The knee injury was one of those freak sporting mishaps, but the cause of James's chronic hamstring problems have baffled the Swans medical staff and a string of specialists.
James has had a range of treatments to get his hamstrings right including yoga, pilates, physiotherapy, acupuncture, epidurals, large needles speared into his legs to try to relax the muscles and break up the scar tissue, and a stretching routine akin to being put on the rack.
"We don't know which treatment was the one that fixed me. It was probably a combination of everything in the end," James said.
The Swans delisted James at the end of last season but threw him a rookie-list lifeline.
"I thought I was going to get cut after my second year when I was out all season with hamstring problems," he said. "There's been plenty of times I thought I was going to be cut. I've been very lucky to be offered another chance."
James, who has played in the Swans reserves' past six games, was promoted back to the senior list two weeks ago.
"It's just a phenomenal story for him," Swans coach Paul Roos said. "I told him (on Wednesday) he'll be in the team. It's just mind-boggling.
"But he's been our best player in the seconds for the last three weeks."
With his strong, athletic 191cm frame, James will give Roos some much-needed flexibility off the bench with his ability to play forward or back.
15 August 2003 Herald Sun
By TIM MORRISSEY
HEATH James has torn his hamstring more times than he's played for the Sydney Swans.
Wait is over: Heath James prepares this week for his first game since Round 10 in 2001. Picture: Phil Hillyard
But after an emotional and almost soul-destroying rehabilitation program, the 23-year-old key-position player is hoping that's all about to finally change.
On Sunday, after 11 hamstring tears and one reconstructed patella tendon, James will play against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba for his sixth senior game.
Recruited at the 1998 national draft, James hasn't played senior football since tearing his hamstring in half against Collingwood in Round 10, 2001. A year later James was set to make a comeback against Fremantle when he snapped a patella tendon at an Auskick clinic.
"I went home that day and I didn't know what to do with myself," James said. "I couldn't work out what I'd done wrong, whether I'd run over a black cat.
"I just sat there and thought, `What have I done to deserve this?'."
That night James cried down the telephone line to his mum in Adelaide, and not for the first time.
"My mum has copped a barrage of calls from me and has had to cope with a lot," he said. "Every time I tore my hamstring and when I did my knee, I was always straight on the phone to mum.
"My girlfriend has copped a bit too, but I think my mum and dad ? everyone ? are pretty happy for me now."
The knee injury was one of those freak sporting mishaps, but the cause of James's chronic hamstring problems have baffled the Swans medical staff and a string of specialists.
James has had a range of treatments to get his hamstrings right including yoga, pilates, physiotherapy, acupuncture, epidurals, large needles speared into his legs to try to relax the muscles and break up the scar tissue, and a stretching routine akin to being put on the rack.
"We don't know which treatment was the one that fixed me. It was probably a combination of everything in the end," James said.
The Swans delisted James at the end of last season but threw him a rookie-list lifeline.
"I thought I was going to get cut after my second year when I was out all season with hamstring problems," he said. "There's been plenty of times I thought I was going to be cut. I've been very lucky to be offered another chance."
James, who has played in the Swans reserves' past six games, was promoted back to the senior list two weeks ago.
"It's just a phenomenal story for him," Swans coach Paul Roos said. "I told him (on Wednesday) he'll be in the team. It's just mind-boggling.
"But he's been our best player in the seconds for the last three weeks."
With his strong, athletic 191cm frame, James will give Roos some much-needed flexibility off the bench with his ability to play forward or back.
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