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| In pain. [PHOTO CREDITS: Mr. Josh Albelda. No Copyrights Infringement Intended] |
Stars do
shine giving us light to guide and inspire but what if that bright light all of
the sudden vanish? That was what we felt last Saturday (March 07, 2015) when De
la Salle’s star player, Ara Galang suffered a very painful blow after an ugly
landing from a hit to their opponent resulting in major injuries in her left
knee which were then specified as MCL Tear, ACL Tear, Big Bone Bruise and
Medial Meniscal Tear as the article on ABS-CBN sports website posted. It was
indeed very painful for all when they saw the Queen Spiker on the floor crying
hard with grimace as her pain level was reported as 10/10 which is the maximum.
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| Ara doing her show with a big smile and energy. [PHOTO CREDITS: Mr. Joseph Nebrida of GoArchers.com. No Copyrights Infringement Intended] |
The heavens were in favour of the green girls
as they were dominating the sets (26-24, 21-25,
25-18, 25-21) versus
National University Lady Bulldogs that beat them on their first game of the
twice-to-beat stepladder format that would decide what team will compete with
Ateneo in the finals. The incident happened in the fourth set in the
middle of her intense energy and ruling the court with her A-Game.
Ara was
rushed immediately to the dugout and the worried Lady Spikers continued with Justine Tiu who replaced her finished the game making them qualified for
the Finals for eight straight years. The volleyball community as well as their
fans were in shock and disbelief of what had happened to this very promising
athlete. A mix of heartbreak and concern was all that we felt as
they lifted her on a stretcher crying in severe pain. The social media was
flooded with tweets and posts hoping and praying for her recovery as well as
hard feelings of sadness and disbelief of what she went through.
Those sweet
smiles and powerful spikes she gave showed how she wanted her team to win, to
inspire her teammates and show the world that she can lift her team as a
captain. She gave all her best in it. What overwhelming was that the hashtag
#PrayForAraGalang trended for a day and a half on Twitter being twitted by big
names in the Philippine Volleyball nowadays, no rivalries and competitions. All
for Ara. All those posts in social media prove that she is a very good and
inspiring athlete by touching all of our hearts on that evening.
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| Ara trended on Twitter for almost a day and a half. |
But there
was a sad reality all of us who support and admire her would have to face – her
season 77 is now ended and will not be able to play in the finals anymore due
to the severity of her injuries. Reading those updates added more to the
heartbreak, the Aramazing passionate and very promising spiker was out. They
said that the estimated healing time is 8 months, that means that there is no
possibly for her to play in U-23, SEA Games and still uncertain for Season 78. We
all know that she worked and trained in all her best just to give her team championship
redemption this season. She is truly a sports superhero by all respects.
Earlier, Ara
posted on her Instagram account that she still believes in her team and will be
with them spiritually also thanking those people who are encouraging and
motivating her. I love how she is handling things in her condition today by
praising God and feeling so blessed for the love and care she receives from
everybody.
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| Resting well with her partner and good friends. [CREDITS to Kim Fajardo on Twitter] |
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| We love and support you for always Ara. |
Way to go
captain! What you have shown us by your perseverance, dedication, passion and
humility is more than any individual awards or championship titles an athlete
could achieve, you may have lost your playing times this season but to your
fans, you are the champion, the most valuable player they will look upon with
respect and inspiration. -FAF