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Do you think “post-season saddies” is a thing? Have you felt it? Let me tell you my experience… 🫂 // SHERRIE’S CORNER // A couple of weeks ago, @hillshornets celebrated Mental Health Round. Something that you should know I am passionate about! It was a great day to personally acknowledge how far my team had come, riding the highs and lows, and forming consistency towards the end of our season. In any season, whether that be in basketball or the figurative seasons of life, comes with its challenges. However, there is a different sort of hollow or loneliness that comes once you part ways with a team.  Do you ever find yourself: 🥴In a slump 😵‍💫Feeling heavy, lost or confused 😮‍💨Low motivation or drive? I definitely experience this after every team I am a part of. A change of routine, a loss of physical connection and different meaning/priorities in life are huge shifts. No wonder we can experience these intense feelings! I didn’t expect to be hit as hard ending the season injured, only playing an unofficial ~3 minutes of game time. But, here we are! The amount of times I catch myself ignoring these feelings by turning to social media and fuelling this unhappy cycle is not good! Now is the time for positive change ⬇️ Things that help me find purpose in the absence of a team: 🧠Reflect on what the season brought for me, what did I learn? (positives and negatives) 📝List how each of my teammates impacted me positively, and how I can carry this into my next team or stage of life 🫂Keep in touch with those I was connected with most Things I am implementing to challenge my unhappy cycle: ⏰Body conscious check-in alarms (3x per day) to allow myself to pause, consciously take deep breaths and reflect on how I am feeling to return myself to the present moment 🐶Spending time with my puppy, outside, no phone, not keeping track of time 🌀Planning time away for wonder and discovery, away from basketball Do you relate? If so, try some of these to help lighten the load 💛 #mentalhealthround #mentalhealthadvocate #mentalhealthmatters #sherriescorner #basketballathlete #mindsetmatters #morethanagame

Any step, no matter how quick or slow, long or short, is forward momentum 👣 // SHERRIE’S CORNER // There have been many moments over the past couple of weeks where I have noticed these little improvements within my rehab. However, this past week was a “not so good” week. Other than my knee being a little stubborn and sore, I’ve been struggling coming onto Instagram. Where inspiration and creativity once was, is seemingly replaced with frustration and helplessness. I’ve turned to doom scrolling more than I want to admit. Constant comparisons with athletes or situations similar to mine… wondering where/who I could be if this injury didn’t occur. It gets exhausting and I have yet to find a healthy boundary to stop, or at least help, my thoughts from swirling with “what if’s”. This kind of burnout had snuffed my spark for sharing things. I have felt stagnant and unable to put one foot in front of the other (figuratively haha) Through all the noise that others post, what weight does my voice carry? I only hope that what I do share encourages someone else that we are all human and have our individual struggles, which is okay but sometimes difficult to push through. I ended up sharing a story the other day where my rehab felt extra hard and “slow” and I was surprised by the amount of support I received. You showed up when I needed it and I felt a little better from the positive energy sent my way. I’ve reached out to all those who did, but I want to say thank you once again 🫂 And I want to extend it to those who I’ve had conversations with too about my head space. You know who you are! I always try to keep it real. Sharing my journey as an injured athlete isn’t as “fun” as posting about playing, training and creating on the basketball court. This journey is definitely different to my other setbacks, as I was anticipating. But finding the strength to be consistent in showing up online has proven difficult. I hope that this little, digital step in posting again after a while gets the ball bouncing. If you got this far, thanks for being in my Corner 💛 Cover photo credit: @jamesodphotography

I’m grateful to be able to endlessly seek for the opportunities that arise throughout my journey. From playing for enjoyment, to realising I can make a career out of it, and continuing to become a better version of myself because of it. This is all despite circumstances throughout the years that have prevented me from playing, injury or no! 📝 Side note: these professional photos make me feel so badass, and prove that sometimes I can be serious (however fleeting) 🤭

As much as I have struggled in the first 2.5 months post-op, there have been so many positive things that has happened. I wouldn’t want to change it! #mentalhealthmatters #sherriescorner #basketballathlete #mindsetmatters #morethanagame #athletewellbeing #mentalhealthmentor #aclsurgery

Marine Johannes who???? Just kidding! I’ve finally got enough mobility and energy to generate power for a jump shot… and I can somewhat power walk after my rebounds 🤭 Small wins! 🥳 #aclrehabilitation #aclrecovery #aclsurgery #professionalbasketballplayer #jumpshot #mentalhealthmatters #sherriescorner #basketballathlete #mindsetmatters #morethanagame

Running for basketball was always used as a punishment during trainings growing up, there’s no wonder why I’ve always had a bad relationship with it off the court 🏃🏼‍♀️🏀 // SHERRIE’S CORNER // Physically, off court running always left me feeling sore. Not the good kind of sore with endorphins experienced afterward. My feet, shins and calves would hurt. It was debilitating and hindered my performance on the court. Mentally, I would feel satisfied post session. But the build up to it was just as debilitating. I’d use other measures like the bike, rower or ski erg to make up for this. There’s nothing wrong with these, but I still had that negative connotation of it being a “punishment”. It wasn’t until I was in another country, that this changed. I decided to run the scenic track to ensure I got the most time seeing what nature had to offer before driving to the next thing. After a warmup, I put on my hiking boots (unsure if this would be a wise decision), slapped on some sun cream, and off I went. Surrounded by the beautiful landscape of New Zealand in autumn, it was breathtaking — ironically and literally! There was a terrible steady incline on the way there, but it was almost a breeze for the run on the way back. Having become sick with a cold on that morning, this did not deter me from picking up my pace to get to the destination. I embraced the process, taking breaks whenever it felt necessary and pushed myself when I felt like a challenge. This whole experience completely rearranged my idea of running. It was just me, my swirling thoughts, and the visual display on offer. I relied on my intuition to get to where I was going — it was so worth it! The best thing was, I didn’t experience those negative symptoms after — as I had previously. So, on the following days I decided to run on tracks if it felt right to do so. It was a practice that I knew I was going to incorporate returning home and getting back into my basketball routine. Unfortunately, that was short lived once I got injured 🤣 Now, during my rehab, I’m looking forward to building up from scratch - A milestone all the more to look forward to!

Here’s a little snippet of Vlog #3, the latest episode of “BENCHED” — a visual journal series documenting my journey to heal my knee. In this episode, I reflect on what “I could’ve done differently” to prevent my injury, the power of feeling seen by my teammates, and share a debrief of my surgery experience — from entering the theatre to learning the results ❤️‍🩹 🚨Only available to watch on YouTube 🔗 Check it out via the link in my Instagram Story or Bio 📲 Or search “Out of the Game, Onto the Operating Table | Pre and Post-Surgery Debrief”

A little snippet of my rehab 8 weeks post-op ❤️‍🩹🏀