Road to Recovery

Returning to the court post-op

An interview with Cassie Jackman

Photographs by Steve Line/squashpics.com

Cassie Jackman, world No. 3, underwent major surgery in 2000 to remove part of a disc in her spine, which was causing severe pain. Since this interview, Jackman had similar surgery in September 2002 to repair another disc. Here she confesses how it felt to be out of the game for five months and offers advice on returning to the court.

Squash Magazine: Were there any times where you thought you'd never hit a squash ball seriously again?

Cassie Jackman: I remember seeing the finals of the Women's World Champs, which I missed, on telly. And there were Leilani Joyce and Carol Owens running around like two people possessed. And I just lay there thinking, I can't imagine ever being able to run around like that. I thought, Maybe I won't ever be able to get back up to that kind of standard. There were certain times that I got down and upset, but I just tried to stay positive. And you just have to get on with it, really.

SM: You started light workouts about six weeks after your surgery. It must have been a bit traumatic to start?

CJ: It was on my heart and lungs, yeah! No, it was all right. I was quite pleased just for them to say, “You can go sit on the bike now, but just be careful.” They put a heart rate monitor on me and I think my heart rate went up as soon as I looked at the bike! It was just nice to be able to do some exercise and think this was my first step to getting back to fitness.

SM: When you've had major surgery, is confidence one of the major things to overcome?

CJ: I think so. You're always afraid that you might do a certain movement and you might injure it again. But the more time I spent on court, the more I knew what I was capable of. It was just a gradual process, just being really careful with it.

SM: You have been world No. 1 and you don't get to that without a lot of focus and a lot of pain and a lot of effort. So the recovery process must have been frustrating?

CJ: It was. The back seemed to heal quite quickly. Each week I could do more and more, and it was just nice to be able to sit on a bike or go on a treadmill. It was a bonus to me to actually be able to hit a ball even on my own on a squash court… each time I enjoyed it more to be back on a squash court. I just had to be patient, really.

I've sort of had gradual goals… I just had to put things into perspective and say, “Well, you're still doing all right considering what's happened.”

SM: Is it a good policy to set yourself realistic goals and try and achieve those and then move on?

CJ: I think so, yeah. The goals I set, I didn't really put on a time scale. I didn't say, “I want to be in the top eight by so-and-so month.” In my mind that was where I wanted to be, but I didn't put a time limit on it. For me, personally, it was always to try and get higher in the rankings but not put any pressure on myself.

SM: I suppose you can relate that to your everyday player. If they don't put too much pressure on themselves in terms of time constraints, that's probably a good attitude for them to adopt.

CJ: Definitely, yeah. You hear people setting goals and saying, “I want to achieve this by, say, September” or whatever month it is. And then if that doesn't happen, sometimes that can be a negative in your career. Sometimes circumstances are out of your control. My ultimate goal has always been to get to world No. 1 and it still is. But I'm not going to say I'm going to do that by next year or whatever. You have to just keep working at it and hopefully it will happen.

SM: You're fit and strong so that obviously helped the process in terms of recovery. But for us mere mortals who maybe don't have the advantage of professional training centers or your fitness, perhaps we should be taking a little bit longer to recover—do you think?

CJ: Yeah, maybe. I think five months is probably quite quick really for that kind of operation. It's just being patient. The rewards later on will be a lot better than rushing it and experiencing a few setbacks… Just try to stay positive, which is easier said than done. But I think that's one of the main things: keep plugging away and let it heal and take its time.

Maybe take an extra rest day, which in the long run is really not going to do you any harm. It'll probably do you more good than anything. Listen to your body.