OCR Text |
Show Roxanne Toly Recuperating s'i : vlljit: I r " ft '.- !? r . f . 'T-f s ; t I .. . i i , , 1 1 " ' By Jim Smedley "They say it doesn't hurt as much the second time, but once is enough for me," said Park City resident Roxanne Toly refering to her dislocated dis-located shoulder. Toly, a member of the U.S. Alpine B Team suffered the injury when she nearly completed her first trv on the A . ' down-hill training at Aspen in March. After the initial part of the downhill the course flattened out to accomodate a long gradual turn then dipped into a short down-hill to finish. "I was almost to the finish, just easing around the turn, when I caught the inside edge of my right ski," Toly said. "I kinda' did the splits first, then before I knew it I went through the blue, net fence to the right." The next few moments were a blur for Toly as she only remembers sitting up and having her goggles, helmet and mouth, "full of snow". Her first reaction was to reach up with both hands and take off the goggles - to orientate herself. her-self. However the left arm did not respond. "I was worried. I didn't know where I was," said Toly. "I didn't feel the pain at first. Then I looked down and my arm was just hanging there. I knew it was dislocated. Roxanne Toly - "I'm getting pretty good at taking one-handed pictures." said. "If anything the injury will probably make me a bit madder the next time I get on a downhill." A Positive Attitude Young athletes suffering injuries that abruptly end their seasons may find it easy to slide into the blues, but not Toly. She fills the idle hours working part time for her mother, making pizza at the Red Banjo. seventh place in the downhill, down-hill, also injured her right knee in a spill. Toly said that the hill was rough all the way down. It was soft with a lot of chatter marks from the top to bottom. The injury sidelined Toly for six weeks forcing her to miss the U.S. Nationals. She said she was "pretty disappointed" dis-appointed" but adopted a positive attitude about the injury since she did not miss any World Cup competition and has the entire summer to recuperate. "I went, 'Yuck'!" The ski patrol reached Toly moments after her accident and after a one minute toboggan ride to the end of the downhill she was in an ambulance speeding towards the Aspen Hospital. Twenty minutes including accident, toly suttered the most excruciating pain of the day. "The worst part of the whole thing is when they pulled off my suit. Those things are skin tigM. 1 H;n't Kni)" July said winci.ig slightly as she recalled the moment. "My arm was hanging. The doctor had to move it around for awhile, then he did some wierd thing and put it back in," Toly said. "After it slipped in there was wasn't so much pain." A Killer Hill? The hill must not have liked the U.S. Ski Team that day because two other skiers suffered disabling injuries. Doug Lewis, a two year member of the development team, fractured three vertebra verte-bra in a mishap. Heidi Preuss, who finished the 1980 World Cup season in 1 can put the toppings on them and cut them, but I have a hard time rolling them out," Toly said. Being on the sidelines she has found a diversion -photography. "I'm getting pretty good at taking one-handed pictures. pic-tures. They'll call me the on-armed photographer," Toly said. Toly makes light of her situation present but skiing is very much on her mind. After my injury I stayed at Aspen and watched the races and I was dissappointed. I like to see my team mates do well, but I'd like to be racing," Toly said. "I like the competition. A couple of days ago, when the sun was shinning I wanted to go skiing. It looked like a good day to go skiing," Toly said. It will be next season, however, before Toly is able to answer the sun's call to the slopes. Toly is eyeing the World Championships next year but knows that she has to rehabilitate her arm completely com-pletely to participate. "Now that the muscles are pulled and stretched if it't not strong, if it doesn't heal right, it will come out again,". Toly said. "I haven't talked to the doctor yet so I don't know what type of program I'll be on to strengthen my arm." The dislocated shoulder was the most serious injury in Toly's career. She suffered only an occasional tweaked knee prior to her disabling injury. Although the downhill was her demise, Toly said she was not spooked by the thought of racing a downhill again. "The downhill doesn't bother me at all. When you get up there you know you take the risk of falling." Toly |