Personal Narrative: Bounce Back

Bounce Back

"Injuries obviously change the way you approach the game"(Brett Favre)

Everyone knows that football can be an injury prone sport. In my case it has been. Throughout the ten years of football I have had 3 surgeries, received two concussions, and injured my neck to the point where I am missing a disc in between two of my vertebrae. There is one specific memory that stands out in my mind however.

It was a normal day of high school football. It was the spring football season right before my senior year. This was my last chance to impress the coaches and seal the starting spot as defensive end. The familiar sound of the coaches whistle blew, the smell of freshly cut grass floated

in the air, there was no indicators this day would be any different than any other. Unfortunately this was no ordinary practice.

After an intense warm up and dynamic stretching, the team split up into their individual position groups. This meant a tackling drill for my fellow defensive ends and I. This consisted of two players running head on to each other, one being the tackler and the other was more or less a dummy. I was paired up with a freshman that was significantly shorter than I. Unaware that this height difference would cause bodily harm we preceded with the drill. As my opponent and I charge full speed towards each other, I notice his abnormally low approach. I though to myself that this could be very bad.

Sure enough the instant of impact I felt a sharp tearing sensation in my lower abdomen, exactly where I had two previous surgeries. I knew this pain far to well. After having four previous hernias causing two surgeries, I was certain that I had another one. I thought that my football career would be over, threesurgeries would certainly be enough to call it quits. I slowly looked at my lower abdomen and sure enough I saw the tell tale sign of a bulge popping out. The surgery consists of two or three incisions followed by a patch of mesh to cover the hole in the lining in your lower stomach area.

Two days later I had my surgery and started the long recovery of eight weeks. I decided to continue playing football despite my multiple surgeries. Football is my passion and I couldn’t just quit. That is how I got the infamous scars on my lower abdomen. From this injury I learned to persevere throughout the difficult times and continue what I started.