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Maddy Westbeld is becoming patient as the injury heals

Maddy Westbeld is becoming patient as the injury heals

SOUTH BEND — For Notre Dame women’s basketball forward Maddy Westbeld, everything should feel so wrong on any given afternoon this time of year.

In a strange way, in a way Westbeld could never have imagined, it somehow feels so right. So necessary. So necessary.

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So much of the past four years have been about the next step for Westbeld, a freshman, since she arrived from Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio. The next exercise. The next film session. The next road trip. The next game. The next challenge. The next victory.

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Next time she could go back to the field and do something she loves so much, do something she’s done since she was in second grade.

Band.

It was always about the next thing, but what about now? Westbeld spent so many days, weeks and months of her freshman, sophomore, junior and senior seasons chasing the next thing that she rarely took the time to take a deep breath and be in the here and now.

It was always about basketball because, well, it was always about basketball. The game didn’t define Westbeld, especially away from Rolfs Hall or Purcell Pavilion, but it was close. The game was her and she was the game.

Until mid-September, when she couldn’t look forward to what would happen next in the weight room, film room or basketball court. The next step may not happen for a few months as Westbeld undergoes rehab and recovers from surgery to address a left foot issue that lasted longer than she would have liked.

By not chasing the next, Westbeld only has the now. you now. Who is she without the game? As a person? As a player?

“I’m really grateful to be able to ask myself these questions,” Westbeld said during the team’s version of Media Day last week. “Who am I off the field and who am I as an observer? I really feel like I’m going to take care of my little girl again, if that makes sense.”

It makes perfect sense. That day, as the Irish women prepared for practice, Werstbled suspected it would be the last time she hadn’t had a basketball afternoon since she was a child – first grade. Not a film. No elevator. No pre-workout shooting routine. Not a busy day full of books and basketball.

It allowed her to take a deep breath, look around at where she is now, and appreciate everything. I appreciate it more than I have in the last four seasons. Westbeld returned for her bonus COVID-19 year this season for a reason. To pursue the program’s first national championship since 2018. There is nothing more to add to your resume.

She never realized that this path would be completely different than expected. You know what? That’s good.

“I was able to walk very slowly, and I’ve never been able to do that before,” Westbeld said of life rather than her left foot, which she often wears in hiking boots. “This year I planned to go 100 miles per hour.”

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This year she’ll have to settle for more like 5 miles per hour. Or 10. She can’t practice. She can’t play. She can’t focus as much on what’s next, so she has no choice – and it’s a good choice – to focus on now.

“At this point, as I try to take really slow steps, really small steps, I find something beautiful in that,” Westbeld said. “Everyone needs to take some time and really accept to take care of themselves and really accept to take care of their mind and their body.”

This is Westbeld’s “me” time. It’s not about points and rebounds and minutes and starts. It’s about being in the moment. Be in the now. I’m not focused on what’s coming next week, next month, or next year. Hug yourself today. Then, tomorrow.

“I’m learning that I can be patient,” she said. “I can be patient with myself and listen to my body.”

The 1.90 meter tall Westbeld has started all 120 games in which she has played over the last four years. She missed one – last January due to a concussion – a fact that still stings. Injuries were something that happened to someone else. It has long been the only plug-and-play constant (and play and play and play) in this program.

Injuries are commonplace, especially at Notre Dame.

Look around any Irish training session and there seems to be no one who hasn’t been hit hard by the injury hammer. Guard Olivia Miles hasn’t played since February 2023 after suffering a serious knee injury. Winger Sonia Citron is missing due to a knee injury. Forward Cass Prosper missed almost all of last season. In addition to Westbeld, KK Bransford and Kylee Watson, who were also out due to injury, sat on the bench during a training session.

Injuries happen. That just never happened to Westbeld. It’s as if the tread on one of their tires simply gave up after 3,626 minutes of play. This is what happens.

“I remember when she first found out – when she told her everything was going to be okay. “Everything happens for a reason,” Citron said. “God has you. Just have faith. She will be back in no time.”

Westbeld will not provide a timeline for her recovery – Come back to this game – and doesn’t worry when an appointment she keeps to herself comes and goes and her foot doesn’t feel right. She said last week that she hopes to return for the start of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which culminates in late December.

Maybe she’ll be back by then. Maybe it’s only in January. Perhaps.

Until the right moment comes, it won’t be like this.

“Until my body says, ‘Let’s go,'” she said.

Until then, she’s just playing the long game of recovery and rehab. Sitting in a chair and working on her grips. From form shooting. Doing what she can in the weight room. To rehabilitate her body and mind and ensure that every step she takes back into the game is a good one. A slow one. A needed one.

To the point that when she gets back on the court, she’ll be doing something she hasn’t done for too long – pain-free. Is she injured? Yes, but in some ways no.

“For me it’s really healing,” she said. “I’m really happy and feel very blessed to be able to take this time to heal properly.”

After completing her media obligation, Westbeld limped out to the lobby of Rolfs Hall. She grabbed her bag, her water bottle and her phone. Practice, ironically, was supposed to start in 21 minutes – her jersey number – but Westbeld didn’t want to attend.

Your day will come. Again.

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on Twitter: @tnoieNDI