Mayo's Tom Parsons 'ready to bounce back in 2019'
Friday 28 September 2018 14:51, UK
Mayo star Tom Parsons is continuing his long recovery from a nightmare injury sustained against Galway in May and says he is "ready to bounce back in 2019".
The midfielder has had three surgeries this summer, but feels he is moving in the right direction.
"I've now fully reconstructed all the ligaments in my knee, which is a stage which I've been visualising since day one because it's been a gruelling process," explained the 30-year-old.
"I've had three quite heavy surgeries over a prolonged period of three and a half months. It was a challenge, but it's really promising that it's all done and everything has went to plan.
"I now have numerous body-parts of mine in my knee, including my hamstring, my quad, and actually a cadavers ligaments - somebody's Achilles ligament in my knee. So depending on the quality of that ligament, I could be jumping even higher next year when I get back!"
While there is a physical recovery to be made, it also brings its mental challenges.
"A big part of sport is visualising yourself performing, visualising yourself on the big day. This week I was afforded the opportunity to put on the 2019 Mayo jersey.
When I was asked to do that, I thought 'what better way, what better visualisation cue to have than a picture of me wearing the 2019 Mayo jersey?' That will give me huge motivation and drive to really focus, to hopefully put on that jersey next summer.
"I'm 30, and the advantage of being 30, what that brings is probably more experience and patience in dealing with an injury like this.
"When you're 20, 21, 22 and you pick up a hamstring strain and you're told you're out for six weeks, that six-week period can feel like your career has ended."
Parsons and Mayo have endured more than their fair share of on-field heartache in recent times, and he feels that those experiences could stand to him in the coming months.
"All these tests of character, including the tests we've had of losing All-Irelands by the narrowest of margins, I think gives you an advantage of building up a resilience and a bounce-back factor that I think I have. But more importantly, the players have and the people of Mayo have. They're a really resilient people who wear their heart on their sleeves. I think myself and the rest of people in Mayo are ready to bounce back in 2019."
While reluctant to nail now a potential comeback date, Parsons suggested he could return at the start of next summer.
"The complexity of this, you'd certainly be airing on the side of the nine months with the complexity of it from my last surgery date which would bring me up to next June.
"But I could be training in other capacities in May of next summer. To be honest, the focus with injuries like this is you set your mini goals and they become your big focus. Your end focus is your visualisation to play with Mayo, and the exact date or time or game, or how that happens, you certainly don't set that. But I don't want to rule myself out - I'll hopefully feature for Mayo in 2019 in some capacity."
Tom Parsons was speaking on Friday at the launch of the GPA's annual report for 2017.
