Personal Narrative: Tick Tock

Tick Tock Tick Tock, I hear the sound of a ticking clock, I try moving to stop the sound, I notice my leg is in a sharp pain and immobilized. I slowly open my eyes and see bright fluorescent lights. I look down at my knee to try to find the source of my pain and immobilization; all I can see are bandages and a large bulky brace. I realize that I have undergone some sort of operation.

The challenge I faced was not racial, cultural, or mental; instead it was physical. At the ripe age of 12, I suffered a sports injury that would change my life forever; I tore my ACL, MCL, Meniscus, and fractured my femur. It all started the day before I was supposed to get out of school for Fall break. It was the sixth game of the season against another fellow Castle Rock team. After half time we were winning 42-0. To give the other team a chance my coach changed everyone’s position. Normally a linebacker, my coach put me at left guard. During the second play at left guard, the running back decided to run through my gap, till eventually getting tackled from behind causing him to trip. The only problem, I was in on a block directly in front of where he was tripping. As the running back fell, his helmet hit directly to the side of my knee. I fell to the ground immediately, staring at the ground with my leg in extreme pain.

For the first time in my life, I realized how important my future actually is. I truly thought about my future education and how it could improve my life. In seventh grade at the time, I decided if I wanted to fulfill my dream of going to college, I would have to start focusing more on school and my grades. From that day forward, I decided I would challenge myself as much as possible in school. I decided the way I could do this was by taking advanced placement courses and other rigorous courses. In 7th grade at the time, I was taking a ninth grade level math