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    Fajardo feels injury is his body's way of telling him to slow down

    SPIN.ph checks on June Mar Fajardo as he begins recovery from horror injury
    Mar 7, 2020

    THEY say a player is never the same after dealing with a career-threatening injury.

    June Mar Fajardo may very well be an abberation.

    A month after the league's tectonic plates were rocked by the news that the five-time PBA MVP suffered a complete fracture in his tibia, the Cebuano giant remains his jolly old self, ever smiling as he approaches a season on the freezer.

    Yes, flashbacks of his freak injury that may force him to skip entire season, perhaps longer, are still there. Solitary moments that leave him staring at the ceiling still gives him shivers as the memory of the injury suffered as he was going for a routine and open layup in the final moments of practice -- comes right back and plays repeatedly in his head. That's enough to leave him with sleepless nights.

    The physical pain also constantly reminds him on what the next few months are bound to be. Cold nights elicit shivers stemming from the titanium plate - he jokingly says it's made of stainless steel - inside his right leg that connects his broken bone.

    The wait is all the more agonizing as he tries to literally get back on his feet without the help of a walker or his electronic trike while watching the scars from his surgery slowly heal.

    Those pains, both physical and mental, do not keep Fajardo living his best life. He even kidded that he's honored to be compared to Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George - if only because they suffered horrendous leg injuries and not for their exceptional play on the court.

    "Ngayon pa nakumpara eh no, kung kailan injured," he quipped with a grin.

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    It's still an adjustment, of course, to him being largely confined at home and not attending San Miguel's morning practices or the cycle he has come to know for the better part of the past decade: practice, games, home.

    Along the way, Fajardo racked up championships and individual accolades that filled his household trophy case with so much hardware that some had to be sent home to his parents' home in Pinamungajan, Cebu.

    Those honors also saw him be a staple of the national team and collect a boatload of blue-and-white Gilas Pilipinas jerseys and IDs.

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      Yet like his career, all are shelved for now.

      With the 6-foot-10 center's mobility limited, it's easy for him to go idle and gain weight, an expected outcome, really, for players dealing with injuries. But he makes do of what he has, working on his upper extremities in his "secret gym," as his close friends watch his diet.

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      Fajardo also tries not to be idle, visiting nearby places like the San Miguel Corp. office or eating at the mall just to shed his boredom away.

      There's also his handy PlayStation 4 and his trusted phone as he tries to move up the ranks in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

      Prolonged as his hiatus may seem, Fajardo acknowledges that it may also be his body's way of telling him to slow down. After all, his injury, as sudden as it may be, was inevitable and a long time coming, if he is asked.

      "Alam ko na eh," he said.

      It's just that Fajardo is never one to complain.

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      Remember the shin injury that sidelined him in 2018 and forced him out of Gilas duty for the second window of the Asian qualifiers? That hairline fracture never truly healed.

      Despite those pains, he still led the Beermen to three titles in the past two years - and almost a Grand Slam this past season.

      He added more to his Best Player of the Conference haul, raising his record to eight, and continued to be the top dog in the PBA with his fifth MVP award, with the sixth one about to come this Sunday.

      Fajardo also got an elusive gold medal this past 30th Southeast Asian Games, a stint he wouldn't miss for the world as he relished the chance of representing flag and country on home soil.

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      Yet as brave as that stand was, his injury eventually caught up with him.

      His humongous presence will sorely be missed, not just by San Miguel or by the PBA, but all of the basketball faithful for the next year. But he is staying positive as he slowly works his way back to form.

      Until then, Fajardo vowed to live by the word he wrote on his size-17 KD 12s when he faced Serbian center Nikola Jokic in the 2019 Fiba World Cup: Smile.

      Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph

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