Reid Martin (21) scores the first of two touchdowns
against Mission Bay Oct. 24 in the second quarter.
(Photo by Ed Piper)
Reid Martin and I have something in common.
Round about June, Reid got injured and had to sit out football.
About the same time, but a little bit earlier--the end of May--I had to stop lugging my heavy Nikon D4 camera and lenses around because of increasing pain in my lower back.
Four and a half months later, Reid was able to jump back in the game.
At the same time, I picked up my D4 and long lens for the first time in four and a half months and took photos of Reid and his teammates playing against Point Loma.
Reid scored one touchdown.
I was able to create my first high-quality sports images in a while.
Before that, Reid agonizingly missed La Jolla's first six games of the 2014 season. Thank God, there was a bye in week 7, so he got one more week of recuperation before returning to the active roster in week 8.
I asked Coach Jason Carter about Reid's availability back about week 4, after Reid told me he might return in week 4 or 5 ("if the doctor okays it"). Coach Carter, reflecting wise thought, replied: "No way. He's not playing until he's 100 percent."
I talked to Reid frequently on the sidelines during those six games of inactivity. He was taking it well, considering. He was smiling and chatting. I even recorded an interview with him before the Bishop's game on my tiny one-hand Kodak video camera. He was great. We did the two-minute interview in one take. (I didn't use it on Facebook because La Jolla lost by a large margin and it might have been taken wrong by some.)
But as a young guy full of energy and a senior looking at his last football season in high school, Martin said he was dying to get back on the gridiron. In week 2 or 3, he had told me he was running on the sidelines straight ahead. The coaches subsequently shut that down, because it wasn't wise to get ahead of things.
So, good for Reid, he played in the game against Point Loma and scored a TD, though he told me on the sidelines, "I got to get my running down." He indicated he felt a little discombobulated, not himself, after so much time away.
And he scored not one, but two, TD's the next week against Mission Bay.
It didn't dawn on me until after the game how our paths during these four and a half months had tracked so closely: he, sidelined from June to mid-October; me, unable to take photos with my bigger sports camera from the beginning of June to mid-October.
I felt a further kinship. I was happy to be back doing what I love to do, creating art with my camera. I began physical therapy for my lower left back spasms in June, not really expecting PT to help. I was discouraged. I had grieved the loss of my cameraship over the past year--I sold my very long 300mm lens for football (and other field sports) in June 2013 on eBay after realizing I had to do something to ease what was now the constant pain in my back.
I had been receiving chiropractic care for most of the three years I had pain. But each time I went out to an LJHS sports event and took photos, in effect I was cancelling out the benefits of the treatment.
During my hiatus, I wrote up game stories on my blog. I wrote a few articles for the La Jolla Light and La Jolla Village News. I took photos with a little point-and-shoot camera. I thought my action-sports days were over.
So I had a lot of time to think and pray, as I'm sure Reid did during his time out.
And when I came back, I felt gratitude for the chance to take action photos again. An "attitude of gratitude", as they call it in 12-step recovery. I'm thankful to God for the chance. I'm thankful Reid gets to go back doing what he truly loves, too.
Copyright 2014 Ed Piper
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