Misty is down but not quite out

By Doug Krikorian
Staff columnist
 

It's now more than a month since her left Achilles tendon ruptured while rehearsing for a "Dancing With The Stars" routine called the jive, and Misty May-Treanor is in an upbeat mood even though her ambulatory needs still are aided by crutches, a wheelchair, or a four-wheel scooter.

"A couple of more weeks, and I'll be able to put a little pressure on the foot," she says. "But right now I still need help."

Lest you think Misty May-Treanor is feeling sorry for herself, or is cursing her misfortune, forget it.

She is on the phone from Corral Springs, Fla., where she resides part-time with her husband, the Florida Marlins catcher Matt Treanor - they also maintain a home in Long Beach - and she is philosophical about her injury that resulted in her and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, having to depart "Dancing With The Stars" in which they had scored well in the first two shows.

"It was just a freak accident, but things like that happen," says May-Treanor. "It could happen to anyone. It could happen to a person stepping off a curb, or climbing up a set of stairs.

"I think what happened to me is that my body was too tired, had just had enough. I had been going, going, going, the entire year - and I guess it just caught up to me.

"I never gave it a rest. I played all those matches on the AVP tour and overseas. And then went to the Olympics, and that was a grind. And then I got back, played more AVP matches, and then started dancing. I never took a break. I probably over did it."

Misty May-Treanor, who won her second straight Olympic beach volleyball gold medal with partner Kerri Walsh in Beijing, insists she's actually savoring her inactivity.

"Why should I be depressed?" she asks rhetorically.

"Injuries happen when you engage in physical activity. And, believe me, dancing isn't easy. It's far more strenuous than people might think. I used totally different muscles than I did in volleyball.

"Look, I actually feel fortunate that, if I did have to get injured, it happened when it did. What if it had occurred before the Olympics, or even during the Olympics? I've been pretty blessed with the way my career has gone. I have no complaints."

Misty May-Treanor enjoyed her "Dancing With The Stars" experience.

"Oh, I had a lot of fun on the show, and I hope they ask me back again," she says. "I discovered I loved to dance, and I was getting better at it. We were getting pretty good scores, and were set to return for a third time."

On Oct. 4, she and Chmerkovskiy were on a TV stage in Los Angeles practicing for what would have been their fourth dance routine on the popular ABC show when she stepped back gently and felt a sudden pop.

"I knew right away what had happened," she says. "I was a kinesiology major in college, and know something about the body. I was wearing tennis shoes, and probably have made the same kind of movement a thousand times. But this time my body reacted negatively.

It could have happened to anyone."

But, instead, it happened to Misty May-Treanor, who was at the peak of her fame, who had in previous months become friends with President George Bush and appeared on many high-profile national TV programs, who had returned from Beijing an Olympic hero, who had formed with Kerri Walsh indisputably the greatest beach volleyball team in the history of the sport.

You would think she would betray a sense of despair, but she didn't.

"Not everything goes in life like you want it to," she says.

"You just have to accept the good with the bad. That's been my attitude with volleyball - and with life."

She says rehabilitation from the injury will take nine months, meaning she will be doing something - like spending lengthy periods with her husband - that she hasn't been able to do since she got married four years ago.

"I'll be with Matt throughout spring training and throughout most of the baseball season-and that I'm looking forward to," she says. "We've basically lived pretty separate lives since we've been together, and now that's changed.

"Our goal is now to have a family. Will I return to volleyball? Of course, that's still a possibility. But not in the near future.

"What am I now doing? Well, I'm going to physical therapy twice a week, and that will increase to three times in a couple of weeks when I can put some pressure on the foot.

"I've been doing a lot of reading. I work on puzzles. I still lift weights, but, obviously, I just work the upper body.

"A friend of mine has been helping me organize things at my Long Beach house. Matt and I are thinking of remodeling it, and I'm going to hire an architect to see how it would look.

"I also would like to get my Master's degree in kinesiology, and I have to see if I have to take any more classes before I can go for it. I also plan to do a little coaching, go out to some high schools and clinics and instruct young volleyball players. I'll stay busy."

Misty May-Treanor views her injury as a temporary setback, and recalls the re-constructive knee surgery she underwent a few years back in which she made a full recovery.

"I've accomplished everything I set out do - and even more," she says. "I'm actually enjoying the down time. I mean, it's not as though I haven't been active in recent years. I think I deserve a lengthy break..."

doug.krikorian@presstelegram.com