The road to recovery has been a long one for Pownal’s Abbey MacLellan.
The 20-year-old University of British Columbia (UBC) student is playing her first season for UBC after sitting out last season following a devastating injury in which she took a ball to the head in the first half of her first game. The ball broke her face in five places.
“That was tough . . . in my first game. I flew all the way out to Vancouver and I was super excited and it happens in the first game,’’ MacLellan told The Guardian in a telephone interview.
The injury was serious enough to make her question whether she wanted to retire from field hockey.
“I definitely considered it and I was pretty scared, initially, to go back but I decided my field hockey story wasn’t over yet. I wanted to retire on my own terms when I was ready. I’m very glad I did (play again).’’
Bouncing back has been a steady process, she said.
“I’d say it’s definitely not a linear psychological recovery. You know, some days are better than others but you just go out there, work through it and enjoy it the best you can and just enjoy the sport for what it is . . . for what it’s given me (and) all the amazing people I’ve met.’’
She still has to wear a mask that protects her face until it fully recovers.
That road to recovery is paying off. MacLellan’s UBC Thunderbirds are competing this weekend in the U Sports Field Hockey National Championships at UBC’s Wright Field.
The event features a best-of-three competition between the Canada West champions, MacLellan’s UBC Thunderbirds, and the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) champion York Lions. Game 1 was Friday night. The result wasn’t available at press time. Game 2 goes today and, if necessary, Game 3 would go Sunday.
Playing at UBC comes with the advantage of playing near the national field hockey headquarters. MacLellan said she would love to play for the national team someday and the fact that she just got named to the Canwest all-star team can’t hurt those dreams, but her main focus right now is on the nationals.
“If it came my way I’d be so grateful but I’m just so excited to be even playing for UBC because sitting out last year made me appreciate it that much more.’’
MacLellan said her love of field hockey blossomed during her days attending Stonepark Intermediate School and Charlottetown Rural High School, which she graduated from in 2015.
“In the summer I would train with the UPEI team. My neighbour also made me a field hockey net. We have a barn at my house, so I would practice hitting balls on a piece of carpet and shoot at the net.’’
MacLellan, the daughter of Rob MacLellan and Stephanie Drake, played at Northeastern University in Boston for a year before deciding to make the move to UBC to reunite with her former national junior coach Robin D’Abreo, currently the head coach for UBC.
Things simply weren’t panning out at Northeastern for MacLellan.
“It wasn’t really what I was expecting and I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would.’’
Fortunately, she reached out D’Abreo, whom she had known from her days on the national junior team. He was more than happy to have her join the Thunderbirds.
“I’m glad I made the trip out.’’
UBC is in pursuit of its seventh straight McCrae Cup victory while York is in the hunt for its first banner.
Story by Dave Stewart/The Guardian
Twitter.com/DveStewart
