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Injuries are often an inevitable part of sports, and some minor injuries can be managed with little to no disruption in sport participation. On the contrary, a career-threatening injury can be the worst nightmare for an athlete. It doesn’t only put an end to their career but also comes with depression, tension, anger, and low self-esteem.
Athletes who suffer severe injuries are forced into retirement even at the top of their game. Injuries can significantly impact an athlete’s outlook and quality of life beyond physical functionality. Being a professional athlete is all-encompassing, and giving it up is difficult. Many athletes hang their boots following a career-ending injury and take the route of training the upcoming generation of athletes. Lee Brandon, in this case, was also forced to retire at the very beginning of her career.
It was in 1979 when Lee Brandon suffered a severe injury. She fell through a window after a basketball match causing severe injuries to her arm, and she became the first woman to receive arm reattachment in the United States. It took her seven years to regain full use and feeling in her hand. It goes without saying suffering a severe injury may well be a “Worst Nightmare” for an athlete. Still, for Brandon, it was the beginning of a new journey. Following her recovery from the injury, she devoted her life to training other athletes. Her dedication to training others even made her the first-ever female strength and conditioning coach in the history of the NFL between 1990-1991.
Brandon has worked in the fitness sector for more than 40 years. She has trained a wide range of clientele, including professional athletes and celebrities. She created the unique AB-Inforcer® training technology as well as the Brandon Method Practitioner Training programs. She was the Olympic coach for the 1984 Los Angeles team, the 2012 London team, the Rio 2016 team, and the Tokyo 2020 team. Brandon has paved her way to the top to become a notable figure in the fitness industry due to her extensive knowledge working in the team. Most importantly, she is the first female to hold the position of strengthening and conditioning coach in the history of the NFL.
Although there have been several women claiming to be the first, for Brandon, it does not matter to have the title of being the first. Her main argument is that if someone is capable of doing the job, it makes no difference what race, color, creed, or gender they are. When she was hired by NFL for the NY Jets, due to her name being “Lee,” they expected a man to show up.
For many athletes, retirement due to injury is a concept they do not wish to think about or even discuss in great detail. She has shared her time recovering from the injury and the mental state she was in around that time. However, Lee Brandon has achieved Olympic glory and has reached the pinnacle of her journey as a professional trainer. She even shifted her focus to golf long drive, becoming the first woman at the age of over 55 to hit over 330 yards. She competed for ten years on an international stage in the world long drive finals and was ranked in the top five in the world for seven years in a row.
Although she was never a professional golfer, she entered the game as a challenge at the age of 39. She did a head-to-head drive-off with an investment banking client of hers. In her rookie year, she won the first international world long drive title in 2001. Considering the degree of the injury she suffered at a very young age and then comparing it to what she achieved later in her life makes her a role model for many athletes who fell into injury and are forced to retire.
Even her time at the NFL came after she suffered and recovered from the injury. To this day, she constantly motivates elite athletes with her skills to continue pushing the boundaries and creating new, specially tailored programs to maximize her effect on muscle and body growth. She set an example of how dedication and commitment enable an athlete to persevere in the face of adversity, injury, and challenges. Lee Brandon combines her engaging personality with her skills as a world champion athlete to deliver a compelling psychological message: Do What You Love—Just Longer!
