Pingris says Fajardo needs friends, family to help ease anxiety over injury, rehab

Marc Pingris is one of June Mar Fajardo’s closest friends. —PHOTO FROM FIBA.COM

Marc Pingris knows how difficult rehabilitation is for someone with a major injury.

“The hardest part is the first few days of rehabilitation,” he said in Filipino. “Because you’re just about to start. Moving, working out is so hard to do.”

And, based on experience, he knows exactly what June Mar Fajardo, one of his closest friends, needs exactly right now.

“I was able to make it back [to the game] thanks to my wife and my friends who kept on checking on me,” he said. “That’s what exactly June Mar needs now.”

Pingris is providing that for the fallen San Miguel Beer center, who underwent surgery for a broken tibia on Tuesday and is expected to miss at least the entire Philippine Cup that kicks off on March 1.

Fajardo, one of Gilas Pilipinas’ pillars, has also been shelved indefinitely for the Nationals’ upcoming international campaigns.

More than the pain and discomfort of the injury, Pingris said it’s the mental aspect of it all that many should give more attention to.

The many-time PBA champion knows this all too well as he himself suffered an assortment of injuries over the course of his 16-year career.

“If you’re coming from an injury, you tend to think about a lot of things,” he said. “You ask yourself, ‘Should I retire? Can I come back from this?’”

Encouragement from close friends can help ease the anxiety. And Fajardo has gotten a lot of that recently, including from San Miguel Corp. top honcho Ramon Ang, who paid the injured five-time MVP a visit at St. Lukes Hospital in Bonifacio Global Center.

“Injury is something us athletes can’t really avoid, despite all of the precautions, and approaches to our workouts. It’s really a freak accident,” Pingris said.

Fajardo’s injury, which happened during a practice session, drastically altered the balance of power in the Philippine Cup, with reigning five-time champions San Miguel Beer now losing its status as a favorite for the crown.