This week we feature Jordan Elsey in our match day programme, ADLUNITE. To read the full piece, make sure you get a copy at #ADLvBRI!
Old soul Elsey
You grow up pretty fast in the professional football world. There’s no place for children and immaturity is squeezed out very quickly.
Between the commitment it requires to make it at the highest level and the incredible amount of work that it takes to then remain amongst the best, there’s no time to be focussing on petty distractions.
Those that really want to make it realise that at an early age, understanding that there are countless hurdles that will stand in one’s way, then realise they have two options when faced with them.
They can either choose to avoid them, finding a way to get around the problem before trying to convince themselves that running away from things is going to be acceptable at the top. Or, they can face them head on, learn from them and any mistakes they might make, and create a platform to grow from.
These are the people who deserve to make it, the ones that often do.
But for all your growth on and off the football pitch, it can still be hard to keep the faith, so to speak, and trust that your hard work isn’t in vain especially if injury carves a massive hole into some of the most crucial stages of your development.
When you make your return, though, and you finally step back into the spotlight, that’s when your maturity is truly tested and that’s when your time on the side-lines is judged under a positive scope or a negative one.
“When I came back into the team, I was sitting on the bench to start the match and I wasn’t expecting to come on anywhere near as early as I did,” Jordan Elsey said. “So there was no expectation on my shoulders when I did end up coming on.
“I was out for about a year-and-a-half, but when you’re out for that long you have plenty of time to prepare for your comeback and I knew what I had to do.”
As reported, Elsey suffered a double break in his left arm before finding out he had also broken his right arm in the same incident. Upon recovery, and only a couple of weeks after returning to training, Elsey tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament in his left knee.
Yet, despite the extensive period he was unable to play football, Elsey’s return to the Adelaide United first-team was so seamless. There were no nerves or moments of terror at the back, the 21-year-old centre-half was as solid as ever and looked like he had never been absent.
This type of maturity on the pitch is evident through his personality away from it, a rare combination based on humility, which is fortunately not foreign to the Reds’ squad.
The full version of this feature is available exclusively in the ADLUNITE match day programme available at the game between Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar.
Adelaide United will face Brisbane Roar in Round 21 of the Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season on Saturday, 27 February at Coopers Stadium. Kick-off is at 4.45pm ACDT.
