The 25-year-old professional volleyball player had an illustrious college career at the University of Hawaii where she was a two-time All-American. After college, she signed a contract with League One Volleyball, where the middle blocker became one the faces of her team, LOVB Houston. Now, winning games and breaking records have taken a back seat.
Igiede’s focus is recovery. This spring, Igiede suffered an intense ACL injury that will keep her off the court for the rest of the year. Healing her body—and staging an epic comeback—are her number one priorities.
Women’s Health can exclusively reveal that Igiede and her journey back to volleyball will be featured in Built for the Comeback, a LOVB-original series. The first episode is available now, and it features the athlete through the preliminary, intimate moments of recovery. Now, she’s relying on the lessons she learned then to get her through this stage of her life and career.
She says she has rediscovered her love for cooking and has been able to invest more time in her family and loved ones. One of the best pieces of advice she received throughout her recovery process is to accept what happened to her, feel bad for herself a little, and then move on. Her main focus right now is feeling strong.
As a middle blocker, leg strength is crucial for Igiede to have the vertical she needs for the position. The main way she stays locked in on her goals to get her strength back is to physically write them down. She says this is how she beats her biggest competitor—herself.
For her specific injury, the recovery process is long. Because it was a complex, multi-ligament tear, the standard recuperation time is around 9-12 months. Igiede’s plan has been extremely methodical, relying on benchmarks to indicate when is the right time to incorporate something new to her regime.
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