By JARROD POTTER
BRAVERY almost cost Reece Piper the ability to walk, but the courage to get past his accident ensured he wouldn’t be lost to football forever.
While 2015 started off amazingly for the young midfielder – earning his Berwick senior debut in round one – the rest of the year quickly became a battle to get back on the field after a harrowing TAC Cup incident.
In his Dandenong Stingrays debut, Piper, 16, from Berwick, remembers his four minutes of elite football vividly.
It was cut extremely short in the first term as the Stingray slammed head-first into the Shepley Oval fence from an attempted spoil on the grandstand wing.
While the initial diagnosis was grim – with limited movement leading doctors to think he might be paralysed – Piper escaped the incident with torn back ligaments instead of spinal fractures or worse.
“I didn’t think I would be playing football again when I was hospital,” Piper said.
“Just coming back and seeing where it happened and being to training with the boys, things like that just motivate you, basically.
But throughout his rehabilitation – including a month off work and more than two months before he could run again – he knew he wanted to get back out to Shepley Oval.
Last week Piper fulfilled the promise he made to himself as he returned to the training track with the Stingrays.
He was thrilled just to be out there after his near-brush with what could’ve been a forced retirement as he looks towards the 2016 TAC Cup season.
“Pretty excited, pretty keen to get back – it was a terrible incident coming into the fence but just to get back out there again with the boys is great,” Piper said.
“Been hitting the gym a bit – been there for over a month and a half – getting in there and strengthening the back up.
“I’ve now got a bigger mindset on what to do – rehab and those kinds of things – and just how much you’ve got to do and push yourself to get back into footy.”
While most people dread pre-season training, the summer run-around means Piper is one step closer to returning to the Stingrays’ line-up for his top-age draft year and a hopeful round one return.
“Going through it now, feeling that I’m feeling much better now,” Piper said.
“There’s this excitement – just pushing to be out there again and most of all just getting back into it.
“I need to get my fitness up to peak, work on my skills and mingling with the new boys who are training with us.
“Definitely just want to play round one.”
Piper said he was grateful top his family, friends and the Stingrays who stuck with him.
