Almost there!
Girlz midfielder Marlo Sweatman bounces back from three-month injury layoff
REGGAE Girlz midfielder Marlo Sweatman appears on the final lap of her rehabilitation after sustaining a hamstring injury some three months ago.
In the first match of the current season for Hungarian club Szent Mihaly, bad luck struck.
But in her view, taking eight weeks off prior from full training due to the coronavirus pandemic, fortuitously aided in her injury.
“I injured my hamstring sprinting in the first game of the season, after taking eight weeks off with the coronavirus lockdown, so we did an intensive training cycle to prepare for the season to start and in the first match I injured it,” Sweatman told the Jamaica Observer from her Florida home recently.
The senior Reggae Girl deemed the three-month layoff as “extremely difficult”.
“That process was extremely difficult as there was a huge lack of rehab. Eventually, I was able to sort out some treatments on my own and then decided to come home [to the USA] and get myself ready to return 100 per cent for the second half of the season,” she shared.
“I was able to get rehabilitation from a physiotherapist in Budapest – Andras Dlusztus – who recovered me to the point of returning to strength and conditioning, and at that point I decided to continue the strength and conditioning part with my trainer back home in Florida, Pedro Yunes,” Sweatman said, shedding light on the rehabilitation road.
When fully fit she is expected to fly back to Hungary to participate in the second half of the season, which starts in January.
“Well, I will return to Hungary to finish off my season and in
June I plan on making a step [moving on],” Sweatman noted.
In her estimation, the Virginia native summed up her tenure at Szent Mihaly, at best, as having its “ups and downs”.
“The experience has had its ups and downs, but overall I enjoy the league. But, I have ambition to make a step higher [come June],” Sweatman notes.
Despite not having the most productive stay at the Hungarian club since joining in 2019, the holding midfielder admits she has matured in many ways.
“I have definitely grown, both on and off the field. Also, living in a foreign country is a great way to experience and learn new things.
“As far as playing and being one of the better players on the team, [this] forces me to be a role model for the younger ones. Therefore, I have grown in that area,” Sweatman said.
The former PEC Zwolle player of Dutch football says COVID-19 has derailed the sport in incalculable ways over the year.
“COVID has upended football in significant ways. Personally, I think it had a lot to do with my injury. As far as Hungary goes, I think it [COVID] helped to grow the league as it was one of the only countries in the world that allowed fans back at one point,” said the former Oregon Ducks standout.
On the international front, the France 2019 World Cup veteran says passion for the Reggae Girlz burns as brightly as it did when she first tried on the shirt.
“I am still committed – whether I am in the player pool or supporting from afar. My heart is still in it even though I have not been in the past camps, but I have ambition to be in the upcoming ones for sure,” she assured.
“I hope I can be a big impact on the things to come in the near future. I think we are on the right track, and just to keep going as soon as COVID gets sorted out,” said Sweatman, who celebrated her 25th birthday with family in Florida last Tuesday.