Long Beach State University Athletics
Winfield's Senior Year Hampered by Injury
10/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
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Winfield's Senior Year Hampered by Injury LONG BEACH - If you were in the Walter Pyramid Friday and Saturday nights and came away with the impression that Talaya Whitfield had turned in a couple of outstanding performances for the Long Beach State volleyball team, congratulations: You know volleyball. But, if you really dig watching outstanding back-row play, it's a shame that it's unlikely you'll see the senior libero at anywhere peak proficiency over the last couple of months of her college career. A sprain of the MCL in her right knee, suffered during practice after the first weekend of the season, is the reason. "I'd say I'm at about 75 percent ," the 2004 Poly High graduate said Tuesday afternoon before practice. But, as her coach, Brian Gimmillaro said after Whitfield helped the 49ers improve their Big West Conference and overall records to 3-1 and 9-5, respectively, with a four-game win over UC Irvine Saturday night, "she is really only playing on one leg but she has still looked better than anyone else I've seen this season." Whitfield's 25- (vs. UC Riverside) and 24-dig (against the Anteaters) efforts have made her the leader in average digs per game (5.36) in the Big West. That the injury is keeping her from playing as well as she knows she is capable means a lot more to Whitfield than the numbers she is racking up while playing pretty darn well, injury or no injury. For example, there's the matter of how the injury affects the lateral movement that is so critical to a back-row player's performance. Uh, it's rendered it nearly non-existent. "I really don't have any ," she said, smiling. "When I try , I usually end up `tweeking' it." It's perhaps surprising that the still-not-21-year-old (until Nov. 20) Whitfield, a sociology major who could eventually pursue a career in nursing, seemingly have a relatively positive attitude. And that's despite, a) suffering the sprained MCL, b) seeing her right ankle break while scrimmaging with the California Juniors club team she was coaching last winter and, c) still feeling the effects of the stress fracture in her left shin that needed surgery, and a titanium rod to brace the bone, after she wrapped up her sophomore season at Texas Christian University. Things could be worse. "The day after, the knee really starting swelling on the flight to New York (for a tournament at St. John's University)," she said. "It swelled so much that they thought it might be an ACL tear." X-rays and an MRI alleviated that concern but the recommended treatment was "about a month and a half (of not playing), before it could heal completely," she said. She didn't need to be a math major to know what that would have meant. "That," she said, "would have meant missing about the whole season." She finally returned to action about two weeks later, during a match against Washington State in Denver. The time off - and, in order to rest her legs, she still does next to nothing of a physical nature in practices - affected more than her timing and sharpness. "I probably gained about 17 pounds," she said, after only subtle coaxing. Stress and frustration can be dealt with in a variety of manners. And she deals with it in a manner that will leave a lot of you shaking your heads knowingly when you read how. For Whitfield, comfort in stressful moments often involves discussions with individuals wearing head sets in drive-thru windows. "You name it," she said, before doing so. "Wendy's... McDonald's - I love the fries and can eat them all the time. Give me PF Changs... Pick-Up Sticks... KFC." Uh, she mixes in a salad on occasion, right? "Nope... no Soup Plantation for me," she said. She is making progress - "I still have about eight or nine pounds to go ," she said. But doing all of the conditioning work she would need to reach her optimum playing weight of "about 130 pounds" would involve the kind of workouts in practice that her legs aren't going to allow for the time being. Not that's she a big fan of running, anyway. "I have asthma," she said, "so I didn't want to play basketball or track and field (at Poly). Even soccer has too much running." She found her passion on the volleyball court at Hughes Middle School and on the club scene before going to Poly. And the desire to go to the same college with one of her best friends (and club teammates), Loren Barry, a Wilson High graduate and currently a senior defensive specialist at TCU, led her to sign with TCU as a Poly senior. Two years as a starting libero for the Horned Frogs gave her a passion for the back row and defense. But the same time in Fort Worth made her realize she wanted to return to Southern California. After coming close to leaving after her freshman season, she made the move after her spring semester in 2006 and hasn't regretted the decision since. "It was tough because my family couldn't see me very much and my mom had always (and does now) come to my matches," she said. Her time as a college player is dwindling but she doesn't seem to want to make any major commitments beyond picking up her degree in the spring. "What do I want to do after volleyball?" she repeated. And then she laughed. "Oh," she said. "Get married ... travel the world ... drive a Bentley." That's all? "Oh, and win the lottery," she quickly added. But seriously, folks... Her immediate aspirations are a bit less ambitious: She'd like to close her Long Beach without anymore ailments to cope with it. She sighed. "And I was never hurt before I got to college," she said. She won't be hopping right back into a classroom after graduating in May. "Oh, I'm going to take a break," she said, smiling. "Oooh... do I ever need a break!" She didn't say it but it begs to be written, anyway: Not literally, of course. |
