By JANETTE JEFFRESS
BYU track athletes just coming from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints find out it takes about a year to get back into shape, said BYU head men’s track coach, Willard Hirschi.
“These athletes need to get over two years of physical inactivity, and that takes some doing,” Hirschi said.
The athletes were busy on their missions, but they were not usually able to run or engage in the level of physical activity it takes to keep in shape, Hirschi said.
Once they come back, they start to train with people who have been here for two or three years, and the problem usually is that they train too hard, and they end up with injuries, he said.
“During a mission, the arm of flesh has withered badly, and this can’t be restored by wishful thinking. Injuries are very, very common, and there are very few athletes who don’t suffer several injuries in trying to get back what they have lost,” Hirschi said.
Kent Gee, a sophomore from Bay Village, Ohio who runs the 800 meter for the men’s track team agrees that getting back into shape is hard work.
“When I got home, I started training the next day, and although it’s been discouraging from the injuries that have come, and being out of shape, I’ve slowly but surely been improving,” Gee said.
Gee, who returned from his mission in November, pulled his achilles tendon in January but has begun to compete at home meets again.
Another men’s track team member who returned from his mission in September said he did not have very many opportunities to work out on his mission.
“The coach recommended exercising and jump roping for about 20 minutes each day, but I did not do a whole lot because of the work schedule and the little amount of sleep we got; it would have meant getting up at 5:30 every day,” said Randall Himes, a sophomore from Bloomfield, N.M.
After eight months of training, he said his times for running hurdles are about the same as before his mission, but he does not feel like he is physically back to where he was before his mission.
Even though he feels this way, Himes was able to finish second in the Indoor Western Athletic Conference Championships in February, quite a feat for such a recently returned missionary, Gee said.
A long distance runner for the women’s track team said when she left for her mission the coaches were all very supportive.
“There were five of us leaving at the same time, and they told all of us to take a jump rope when we left and to jump rope every morning and night and to do sit-ups and push-ups, too,” said Tasha Bushnell, a junior from Philomath, Ore.
Bushnell said she felt fortunate because on her mission she was allowed to run every day.
“All of my companions were really cool and would run with me or ride their bikes with me as I ran every morning. I also was lucky because I was on a bike for my whole mission, and we biked for at least two hours a day and that helped out a lot.”
Bushnell runs the 1500 meters in track and also runs in cross country. She said she is still working on getting back to where she was before her mission.
“I can still go out and run a lot of mileage but I feel I have lost some speed,” she said.
Out of the five who left on missions at the same time as Bushnell, she said she is the only one competing so far. One girl is out with an injury right now, and the other three have dropped out because it was so discouraging.
“The coaches always tell us it takes a year to get back into shape and to not get discouraged from all the work it takes, but people usually do become really discouraged,” Bushnell said.
Hirschi said he expects it to take around twelve months for returned missionary athletes to regain all of their previous skills because athletically speaking, skills do not come back overnight.
“With track, it is a little different than other sports because the athletes are always running and pounding on the track. Other sports have an ebb and flow, and are not always going, but track keeps the athletes always on the go until the event is over,” Hirschi said.
A hammer thrower from the women’s track team said if people have the desire to improve and are motivated to make it, then the track coaches will give them a chance.
Maridyn Smith, a senior from Memphis, Tenn., said she walked on to the track team after her mission, and they helped her to get into shape to start competing.
“I sprinted in high school because sprinters are the ones with all the glory, so I walked on as a sprinter, but since I was a little stronger than the other walk-ons, they tried me throwing the hammer. They worked with me over and over again, and put me in a great weight training program. But it took about a year after my mission for me to feel like I was really contributing to the team,” Smith said.
She said she worked hard, and after eight months she started scoring some points and helping the team win at meets.
Smith said she thinks returned missionaries are more mature about training and injuries.
“They don’t get scared over every little thing, and know when to take it easy and when to rest, so they won’t get injured badly.”
Hirschi said even though the athletes become more converted to the gospel than to keeping in shape on their missions, he believes this is where their priorities should be and he understands how circumstances do not always allow missionaries to run around the block. He said he is always willing to work with the athletes when they return.
“We encourage the kids to go, but it takes an enormous toll. Yet, the kids will be blessed for teaching the gospel, and our program here will survive through it all. I am not bad-mouthing missions. We want everyone to go on one; these are just the realities. …The message is the gospel, and that takes precedence. But they will have to work hard when they come back to get back to a competing level.”
