Wednesday 23 July 2014

Canadiens' Tim Bozon fighting to come back from illness, making great progress.

Here's a link to a great, in-depth article on Tim Bozon from RDS.

Main points are:

- He feared never being able to play again after his bout of meningitis, but deep down he always believed he'd be back.

- He's going to play 6 games in 10 days with French youngsters against club teams in the Czech Republic.  It's a training/selection camp for the French team, and he normally wouldn't take part, he'd be exempted, but he'll play to benefit from the training and ice time and to regain 'game shape'.  He'll be better able to decide after if he'll be ready to take part in the Canadiens' training camp later this summer.

- Few of his family or doctors thought he'd be this far along in his recovery so soon.  He's following his program, being cautious, but is definitely ahead of schedule.

- He lost 18 kg due to what he calls his "accident".  There's a picture that shows him after his illness, and what he looks like now.  He feels he looked more like a cyclist than a hockey player.  He says he's done a tonne of pushups and situps in his life, and could barely do two of each after his illness.

- He's now about 5 lbs off where he was (200 lbs), and thinks he'll be all the way back in a month and a half, in time for camp.

- He's working hard, it's intense and exhausting, but he thinks he has got almost all the way back in terms of his on-ice play, he just needs to work on 'finishing' and timing.  He's loving it, felt like a kid in a candy store when he was allowed back on the ice.

- His main goal before his illness was making the Bulldogs next season, and it still is now (the alternative might be to return to Kootenay as an overager).  That's what he's working for, to play pro next season in Hamilton.

- His illness and the struggle to get back has given him new perspective on his life and career.  He thinks it might even make him a better player, that instead of being an obstacle it will help him attain his dreams.

EDIT:  Here's another piece on Mr. Bozon from the Canadiens website.

No comments:

Post a Comment