KNEE BRACE OR NOT?

image001So I’ve been getting some questions about why I’m not wearing a knee brace after my ACL reconstruction. This is because, together with my PT and my surgeon, I’ve decided to try and get back on the board without needing one. This means my recovery time will be slightly longer than but in the end I want to be trusting my body 110% before getting back into competing and to me a knee brace is a giant “this is not strong” sign. (Of course this might not be the case for other people, I’m simply talking about me and my own body here). My PT supports my decision and when I asked my doctor I got the reply “a knee brace? What? You don’t need a knee brace, I’ve fixed your knee! It’s stronger than your other one!”. 😂 So now it’s time to spend a few more weeks in the gym in Sweden and finish up with my rehab as well as my university studies. So happy to prepare for the 2017 season!
What did your doctor/PT tell you about knee-braces? How come they are so common in Wakeboarding but not in other extreme sports, like skiing for example?

THAILAND

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This life is where I’m the happiest! I feel like I’ve been in a dream for the past 7 months with my university life and being back in Stockholm full time. Now being back in the “Wakeboarding World” I think I’m seeing it with a whole new perspective. I am so grateful to be back doing what I love, even though I am nowhere near the level I’d like to be yet. Seeing all the friends I haven’t been around for a whole year again and feeling like no time at all has passed is both amazing and a bit surreal and meeting new traveling souls, with such similar values to myself, make me feel like home. I still have a few more weeks of rehab and university before I will be back in the Pro Wakeboarder life but  by getting this little taste of it again, I am more hungry for it than ever!

 

THAILAND – BACK WAKEBOARDING!

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After A LONG rehab period I am now finally back wakeboarding again! In the end of January I left Stockholm on a plane straight to Thailand and now after being here for a little over a week I never want to leave! Taking off the dock that first time in about 7 months was like drinking that first sip of water after being on a hot thai bus with no AC for 3 hours. I don’t think I even fully understood how much I’ve missed it and even though I have a few more weeks of rehab left until I will be fully ready to charge again, just being back with that neoprene smell and the feel of warm glassy water under my board brought back so many great feelings. I am also thrilled to be seeing JB again and being back in my daily work uniforms (bikinis). It’s so familiar that it feels like I never left this part of my life. My knee feels better than ever being back in warm weather and I have to pace myself to obey my PT’s orders of “taking it easy”. My knee feels ready for kickers and getting back into contest mode but I am going to play it smart and listen to my Physio, and sipping on coconuts on the beach isn’t too bad that either 😉

 

 

#BENSQUAD PINS BY SHHH DESIGN

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One of the most inspiring women in wake – Sophie Hogben, has started her own company over in Australia creating cute fashion pins amongst other things. These one’s are extra special as they are designed based on the cool cat Ben Leclair, a great wakeboarder who injured his spinal chord a few weeks back.  All proceeds goes to helping him in his recovery so head to www.pinicool.com now to get yours and make a statement. So impressed by you Soph, both as a rider and as a human being, I wish more people were like you!

IDROTTSGALAN

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Had a magical night meeting tons of inspiring people, getting dressed up to the teeth and eating desserts at the Swedish Sports Gala. I was one of the athletes getting awarded a scholarship for pursuing dual careers. The Swedish sports confederation supports athletes combining successful sport careers with studies and as I’ve now passed my first semester at the Stockholm Business School I got elected for this scholarship and got to go on stage and accept it. All I kept thinking as I walked up in front of those 2500 people was “don’t trip” as I was wearing some stiletto heels for the first time since knee surgery but thankfully everything worked out great 🙂 So honored and thankful for this money and can’t wait to spend it all on gas for the boat 😉

 

NEW YEARS RESOLU… GUIDELINES

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I never make New Years Resolutions because I don’t believe in setting “do’s” and “don’ts” for myself. However I do like the concept of starting fresh and I try to invite change into my life. Today I started thinking about what I want to change in 2017 and here are some of my new year guidelines.

  • Read more books – The last few months, or lets be honest the entire of 2016, Netflix and series took over my book reading and I want to get back to it! Especially autobiography’s and books based on true stories.
  • Stop stressing about things I cannot control.
  • Spend more time with friends – If I don’t have time, make time.
  • Increase the revenue in my new company, Wakecarro AB keep learning new things – in 2017 I want to work towards creating one of my new dream projects, I’ll keep you posted!
  • Make more time for yoga.
  • Laugh more, love more, take more chances, play more yeah just live more I suppose.

2016

p1560283-copyThe minutes before the new year 2016 I found myself standing on top of a chair next to ten other people on top of chairs. We were holding 12 grapes each in our hands because my spanish fiend Esther had told us in her charming accent that “on New Year’s Eve you stand on top of chairs and then you eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds.”

I was looking around me and saw my friends from all over the world as in slow motion getting ready, we were outside in the warm humid Phillippino air and the sky was lit up with a million stars. I remember thinking how lucky I was and how sure I was of my future and the 2016 season. Everything was going to be perfect, I had a great set of sponsors, a perfect plan to move to Texas with my perfect boyfriend, I was riding better than ever and my head was overflowing with ideas for the next season. The countdown started and I started to chug down my Spanish grapes (I have absolutely no idea why but when Esther tells you to do something you do it). The fireworks started and I got a big New Years kiss from JB, I had no idea that my 2016 would turn out nothing like I had expected.

Two weeks later I got dropped by two of my biggest sponsors even though being promised contracts for 2016. This made me quickly reconsider my financial situation but after some thought I actually started appreciating this opportunity as it meant new doors opened for me. I started working towards my new goals and on the new equipment I recieved I started riding better than ever making me want to ride and progress every day.

A couple of months later I woke up in the morning and decided today was going to be a rest day. After driving up to the cable and seeing the glassy water with absolutely no line I decided to go for some laps anyways. With my mind on other things and muscles that were completely exhausted I felt myself charge into a kicker and go big, weirdly enough a bit bigger than usual and I wasn’t ready for the landing. I felt board touched the water and the nauseating feeling of my knee going backwards and hyperextending. I could hear myself screaming, tasting the warm water in my mouth and feeling the immense feeling of “something is not right, my knee is not supposed to feel this way”. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the cable had stopped and about 15 people were swimming towards me in the water. I instantly got embarressed and stopped screaming but my eyes kept running from the pain. I got helped ashore by my friends and for some reason kept telling people I was okay. Except for when I saw JB, I remember telling him over and over again “something is not right”. After resting with compression and ice for a few hours I tried to walk and to my great relief I could! I had some pain sure but I could put weight on and walk around if I walked slowly. I remember telling people “phew close call, if I had tore my ACL I don’t know what I would’ve done”. A few days after that I started wakeboarding again, even though my knee felt really sore I pushed through the pain as my physiotherapist friend had told me “it’s probably just a sprain”.

A while later after getting an MRI I got the results in my hands and I tore the envelope open. I could feel how the walls were closing in around me, that familiar knot was forming in my throat and my eyes started burning with tears as I read the words “Complete Rupture of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament”. I sat down in the waiting room in the hospital. In one moment all of my plans had demolished and gone out the window. I would not be moving to Texas, I would not be fulfilling any of the dreams or projects I had in mind for 2016, maybe the rest of my sponsors would drop me too?

Luckily this is not what happened, I went home to Sweden and got accepted to my first hand choice of university, my sponsors stand by me and try to support me as much as they can and I had surgery to fix my knee and started working with Swedens best physiotherapists. Usually around the new year I look back into the old one and write a post about where I’ve been, what contests I’ve traveled to and what I’ve learned. This year the travel list is fairly short (I even lost my rewards card with my airline) and the contest list is nonexistent. However, the list of what I’ve learned is, I think, the longest it has ever been.

“When you look closely you discover that what happens is the best thing that can happen”
Byron Katie

MY 3D FUNCTION TRAINING

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The past 3 months I’ve been working on strengthening not just my knee but the rest of my body as well. After getting in touch with Hans Hellberg (@hansofhell) I started training 3D Function (or proceedos) and here are my thoughts of it:

Ever since I started the wakeboarding highschool (Riksidrottsgymnasiet i Fagersta) I’ve been taught the proper technique of working out. Angles of the spine, muscles that should work in certain movements and muscles that should not. It’s been benchpresses, squats, deadlifts and lunges and these type of classical weight training is something that I still work a lot with and believe in today. It has therefore been a big change to step into the world of 3D.

I am lucky to be working together with Hans as his passion for what he does and his burning interest for exercising, health and the human body has made me trust him. If I didn’t trust the person telling me to do all these movements the complete opposite way of what I’ve spent my entire life learning I don’t think I would’ve stuck with it. The key to 3D training is to use all your body and to train your muscles in the angles where you are the weakest (of course with light weights and care as you otherwise will put stress on your joints). Now after working with hans for almost 3 months I am completely hooked on this type of training and it makes so much sense to me!

While being on my board I am not always in control and I wont be able to keep my body in those perfect squat angles. Most of the time accutally I’d say wakeboarding puts your knees, back and shoulders in challenging positions and I believe that by preparing my body for every scenario it will make me get back on my board even stronger than before my knee injury.

By working closely together with the physiotherapists at the Swedish National Sports Complex combined with my sessions with Hans, I believe I’m getting the best of two worlds. I’m so happy to have all these passionate, knowledgable professionals around me while getting through these last couple of months before getting back to what I love!

SUNDAY CHILLS

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Today us Swedes celebrate “2a advent” (which basically is an excuse to eat a ton of christmas treats called “lussebullar”). After breakfast in bed and an episode of the Gilmore Girls, I started my day by heading to the gym for an hour bike intervals. I am not the biggest fan of cardio but I’ve discovered that biking makes my knee feel amazing so I’ve started to add both biking and swimming to my training routing as often as possible. Once I was done I headed home to hit the books and drink copious amounts of coffee as I just started another course in Uni. My life right now is quite different to what I thought it would be like but chilling on the couch reading books that make you look super smart when it’s snowing outside does have it’s charm. I think there is a positive angle in every situation and I’m focusing on doing the things now that I never get to do while traveling and competing. Of course I am stalking the wakeboarding world through social media and I really can’t wait to get back to that part on my life!

I was devastated to read the news about Ben Leclair’s accident and I keep sending thoughts his way and hope that he knows the whole world is rooting for him!

2017 SLINGSHOT VALLEY

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Most of you have probably not missed out on the news of Slingshot’s new women’s cable board!!! The Valley is based off the shape of the popular cable board the terrain and if you like something that presses out to the max on rails, this is the board for you! Honestly I can’t decide which board I like better between the Valley and the Reflex as the Reflex is a bit stiffer which gives me some softer landings off kickers but the Valley let’s me press out way more on the rails!

Anyways, just thought I’d show you some pictures of it and I suppose the best way to find out more is to demo one of these babies, I might just end up getting one of each for next season 😉