At church, playing nine square, she goes up to hit the ball. She hits the ball with all her strength and bends her finger back all the way fracturing her thumb. With the pain intensifying with every second, and it getting harder to do stuff with her hand, she knew something was not right.
Because of her injury, she could not pole vault for two months, only run. She slowly realized running wasn’t for her.
“I wanted to quit running because I wanted to focus on pole vault and my injury helped me realize that it wasn’t the sport for me,” Gonzalez said.
With wanting to quit, she had to balance out the pros and cons. On one side, she gets to pole vault but on the other side, she will miss her friends.
“I don’t want to quit running because I love being a part of the team,” Gonzalez said. “It’s like a family.”
She not only suffers from not being able to pole vault but so does the other team members. Freshman Courtney Minick, being new to the team, does not know most of the team members except for Lana Gonzalez.
“Since she was the only person I knew it made it kinda hard to learn to pole vault without her,” Minick said.
With being unable to pole vault, she still supported her team. Being on the bench can have its ups and downs.
“I was happy to not be nervous and watch my friends do good, but I was sad I couldn’t do what I loved,” Gonzalez said.
Once she got injured on Dec. 1, she went through a long process to get back to pole vaulting again on Jan. 28.
“I went to the doctor to get an X-ray and an MRI,” Gonzalez said. “Then I started physical therapy.”
With her injury being on her hand, it can get hard to participate as she can only do the bare minimum.
“I focused on running but I love supporting my team when I’m not competing,” Gonzalez said.
Once fully healed, she gets to go back to doing the things she loves. Not only does she get to pole vault, but she gets to do a bunch of extra things that make her feel more herself.
“Pole vault is a lot of hard work but when I reach goals in it, I feel rewarded and meet a lot of new people,” Gonzalez said.
Pole vaulting has its moments, for Lana Gonzalez, she has those moments every day. Meeting new people and reaching new goals are amazing but for all the pole vaulters, the exciting part is when you’re up in the air.
“When you’re up in the air, for those two seconds, it’s all fun,” Minick said. “Nothing will beat those seconds.”