Sharp overcomes concussion injury that ‘haunted’ him

Tokyo silver medallist Lachlan Sharp revealed he’d only recently overcome a concussion injury that “haunted” him in the aftermath of a bicycle accident 18 months ago.

Sharp, a New South Wales Institute of Sport [NSWIS] scholarship athlete, said the experience provided him with an unwelcome insight into what’s been described as the ‘concussion epidemic’ in world sport.

And while Sharp’s injury did not occur on the sporting field – he crashed his bicycle during a post-Olympic stint as an international import for Dutch club, Amsterdam – it has been a nightmare.

“Eighteen months ago, I had a concussion that’s haunted me,” he said. “The last 18 months have been difficult . . . I only just came back from that, and it changed my life.

“What I’ve learned is to know the importance of a concussion. There’s more and more information coming out, but I was so unaware. I wasn’t educated on the importance of it. I didn’t know how serious it was; how to look after it; how to manage it, or how to return to training and play.

“I’ve had ‘hammy ‘niggles, and you think to yourself, ‘I can push through it without having so much of a break’. I tried that approach when I first had my concussion . . . I was having slight headaches . . . so I kept pushing through them until they disappeared.

“However, they gradually became worse and worse. It’s been a challenge.”

Sharp had a serious bicycle accident in Amsterdam after the Kookaburra’s silver medal winning campaign at Tokyo.

“I don’t have much recollection of what happened, but I was lucky not to have suffered worse injuries,” he said. “It could’ve been really bad.

“Amsterdam sent me to the Football Board of the Netherlands because they have quite an extensive concussion research. I went there; they did a few tests and I ended up getting on a seven day Return to Play protocol.

“I didn’t have any scans. They ran some tests and put me on a program. I had a few setbacks, and the concussion returned two months ago due to a lot of load.

“I was working, looking at the [computer] screen for long periods of time, going to meetings for the Kookaburras, doing university, playing games . . .  selection. It all fell into one, and I developed symptoms again.”

Sharp travelled to Melbourne where he met with Brett Jarosz, a practicing sport and exercise chiropractor and neurorehabilitation chiropractor, who has worked with numerous AFL players and other sports stars, including surfer Tyler Wright.

Sharp credited Jarosz for helping him to find relief.

“He’s changed my life for the better,” said Sharp. “He nailed down the exercises I needed to do to improve. It wasn’t a waiting game [for the symptoms to return], so I’m very grateful I came across Brett.”

Sharp, who plays for NSW Pride in the Hockey One League, said he had many reasons for wanting to be at peak health and be a part of Australia’s assault on the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“It’s for the love of the game,” he said of what drives him. “Wanting to go into battle with my mates and wanting to do it for each other and win that gold medal.”

Sharp, who worked in the Lithgow coal mines before relocating to Perth as a fulltime member of the Kookaburras squad, admitted the last 12 months on the pitch had been a far cry from his rapid rise into the Australian team in 2017 where it took 25 games before the Kookaburras suffered its first defeat.

“Our results have made the last 12 months quite tough,” he conceded. “We’re so used to winning . . . I can’t remember the last time we were ranked outside of the top two. Now we’re ranked 6^th or 7^th in the world.

“At the Olympics we were a bit unknown to the rest of the world, it was a bit of an unknown as to how it was all going to go. We just relied upon working harder for each other and knowing we were fitter than anyone else to overrun them.

“We’re so used to winning, and when that hasn’t happened over the last 12 months it just wasn’t a nice feeling.”

Daniel Lane, NSWIS