The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Netflix doc helps Riggi recover
The Game Changers played major role in recovery from ACL injury
A Netflix documentary proved to be a game changer for HFX Wanderers forward Alessandro Riggi.
Riggi was recovering from an excruciating and increasingly frustrating torn ACL injury while with the United Soccer League’s Phoenix Rising when he came across The Game Changers, a 2018 film about the benefits of plantbased eating for athletes.
The Montreal native said he had tried heavy lifting and body weight lifting; hot and cold exposure; acupuncture and stretching; chiropractors, physiotherapists and osteopaths. He even travelled to Qatar to rehab the knee.
“Nothing was really working for me,” said Riggi, whose injury caused him to miss the entirety of the 2019 USL season. “I was told to run through the pain for four weeks and it would suddenly disappear. Instead, it got a lot worse. You name it, I tried it.”
After watching the documentary, he decided to switch to a vegan diet. He had nothing to lose.
“A lot of people made fun of me because I’m Italian,” Riggi said with a laugh. “They thought it was very difficult because they thought I was eating all kinds of dishes.
“Nothing was really accelerating the healing process so I could get back on the pitch. I was about a year in and I had a lack of ideas. I fell upon this documentary and from there my brain said, ‘why not?’
“I was on a mission to get back and I’ve never wanted something so bad. I felt life took away the game that I love. For me to change the diet was a no-brainer because I just wanted to play again.
“I tried it and slowly it helped reduce inflammation in the body and that diet, along with several other things I changed, helped me get back on the field.”
Riggi – who signed with the Wanderers in December of 2019 and provided the Canadian Premier League finalists much needed depth up front during the 2020 campaign – has played pro in Portugal, Romania and Italy before he returned to North America to play in the USL with Montreal and Phoenix.
It was with the Rising that Riggi played alongside legendary striker Didier Drogba. The former Chelsea star and captain of the Côte d’ivoire national team had come to Phoenix to close out his celebrated career as a 40-yearold player and co-owner of the team.
Drogba suggested to Riggi that he travel to Qatar to rehab his knee.
“When he saw my injury, he said this is where a lot of elite soccer players go for their rehab,” Riggi recalled. “The facilities, the gym, the pool, everything about it was world class and unbelievable.
“Didier is just a fantastic human being,” Riggi said of Drogba, who won four Premier League titles and two Premier League golden boots with Chelsea and led his country in three World Cups. “There’s a reason they refer to him as the King. He’s a lot more than a footballer. He goes out of his way to help people. He doesn’t like to see his people suffer.
“When the injury happened, he was one of the first ones to reach out to me, along with my parents and my brother. He was right up there. When I got home, he Face-timed me. He told me that he had hundreds of teammates who went through the experience and advised me about going to Qatar. I thought, why not?
“If I was to trust someone in the game, it would be him. He’s done it all in the game.”
Riggi, who at one point during his recovery was convinced his career was over, finally returned to the pitch last summer after two full years without training or playing.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the start of the CPL season until August, the five-foot-four, 140-pound Riggi appeared in eight matches during the league’s condensed summer tournament dubbed the Island Games.
He made his debut on Aug. 15 against Pacific FC and collected a goal and an assist as the Wanderers reached the CPL Final.
“It’s difficult mentally when you miss two full seasons and the first season back is only six weeks. To be honest, it was the biggest tease in the world,” Riggi said.
“I was far from 100 per cent and it was very difficult for me to come back from missing one-and-a-half full seasons, plus another six months we had off because of COVID. That was two full years not being in an official match. I then only had six weeks of preparation and two of those weeks were just groups of four training together. Having four weeks of preparation after two years of not being on the pitch at all was less than ideal.
“I remember that first game against Pacific. It was way too fast for me. I was out of shape, I couldn’t keep up. That was a wake-up call. I learned a lot from that first game. From there, I tried to get as fit as I could. I couldn’t rely on all of my capabilities. I knew I didn’t have the legs to outrun or dribble past my opponents but I used what I had and changed my style of play a little. I helped out a lot defensively and did whatever I could that my body allowed me to do.”
Riggi expects to be a completely different player in 2021. The Wanderers think so too.
The 27-year-old will be back with the team after signing a one-year contract – with a club option for 2022 – in November.
“To have a full season under my belt would be just fantastic," Riggi said. “My brain can’t handle not playing any games.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming into the CPL. It was very strange not to be practising or playing in Halifax. I didn’t get a chance to play in the best stadium in the league.”
He’s looking forward to a full season in Halifax, which Riggi called “a vibrant city” that reminds him of the Old Port in his native Montreal.
“I like the city a lot,” Riggi said. “It’s smaller than what I’m used to but it’s very cool. The fact that there are beaches is shocking for me to see in Canada. To be honest, I didn’t know that really existed here.
“I think there’s still a lot for me to explore in Halifax.”