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Scoliose
Impact of sports in society
Positive and negative effects of sports
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As I quietly sat there in the patient’s chair, my heart was being ripped out and torn to shreds. “You can’t play tennis anymore. The condition you have can cause irreversible damage that could result in anything from extreme pain to paralysis to even death.” My doctor told me I had scoliosis, a curvature of the spine, and basically told me I had to give up my favorite sport if I wanted to live. But how could I live without tennis? Tennis was the only sport I played, the only sport I actually enjoyed, the only place I could go to escape my schoolwork and enjoy my life. What was I going to do?
I didn’t want to quit tennis. I had played it since I was six years old. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into improving my game. I had won countless trophies from tournaments and I didn’t want to just let all that disappear into irrelevance. But what could I do? The doctor said I could die if I continued putting pressure on my spine. Even if I didn’t want to give up tennis, I definitely didn’t want to die. Scared and confused, I turned to the only person I could trust, my coach.
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Apparently he was diagnosed with scoliosis too when he was my age, but as it turned out, there was nothing wrong with him at all. Instead of sulking at the news that he couldn’t play tennis, he rebelled and played it even more. He practiced more, and he played tournaments more, but most importantly, he went to the gym more. He focused on strengthening his weaknesses, his back and lower body, so that the muscles would be less inclined to
Beginning as a freshman I started every game never, but to sit on the bench unless there was a major problem. This repetitious cycle mirrored itself over and over again until there was a problem, physically, with my body. I had felt a pain in my back that ran down my leg for some time, but no one other than me knew of this pain. I am a very strong willed and determined person, not letting pain stand in my way. The pain started to vaguely effect my everyday activities, such as walking across Wal-mart which put me in agonizing pain. The only way I played basketball with this pain was by focusing on the goal I was out to achieve.
“You need surgery.” Just a few weeks before a national basketball tournament, these words would change my life forever. Basketball is my true passion that is a part of who I am. Unfortunately, I experienced failure at meeting my athletic aspirations, due to an injury. Although my particular injury was out of my control, I constantly felt ashamed that I could not completely fulfill my athletic goals as I had hoped. I felt I had let everyone down who had been there for me and supported me. This injury has also shaped me and changed my perspective on how I see and appreciate certain things.
However, I was always an optimist and tried to convince myself that I could defeat him (Yeah right!). We approached the table and shook hands. In the few initial minutes, we warmed up, just casually rallying the ball around, but even then he was playing better tennis than I ever had. The coach then blew his whistle which concluded the warm up and signaled the commencement of the match. At this point in time, I tried to swallow all the fear and anxiety that I had and to face my opponent valiantly and courageously. The match began and before I had fully realized, he had won the first game 21-05. He had won it with the utmost ease, returning even my best shots without any struggles or even remote difficulty. I tried not to feel discouraged, saying to myself that he still had two more games to win and that I would not give in without a fight.
He told me it may be possible for me to skate again. He asked me if I was prepared to work even harder than I had before to continue my skating career, to which I said “I know no other option”. A value instilled in me by my parents at a young age; if you want something you have to work as hard as possible to get it. I did countless weeks of intense physical therapy. I reduced work load at my job which supported my skating in order to focus on my recovery since my labor intensive job would impede the recovery process. During my slow return to skating I had a reoccurrence of my bulging disc to which the doctor told me the impact forces of jumping were too much for muscular strength to overcome. We discussed my options and he agreed that I could compete in ice dance, my second love in skating. He reiterated to me that picking up and individual to perform lifts might not put the same impact forces but I still needed to work as hard as before to be able to compete safely. I rehabilitated again and begun my trek down the path of ice dancing. I competed in ice dance for the next six years without a flair up in my back. I was a national competitor and at the end of my career I was ranked 11th in the country, competing against those who would become our Olympic team
Gawande talks about how he came up with the idea of hiring a coach to watch him perform surgery after an experience he had playing tennis. Years of playing the game and not improving, Gawande incidentally finds himself play tennis with a young man who is a tennis couch. The young man gives Gawande a tip about keeping his feet under his body when hitting the ball. At first he is uncertain, stating, “My serve had always been the best part of my game…..With a few minutes of tinkering, he’d added at least ten miles an hour to my serve. I was serving harder than I ever had in my life” (Gawande, 2011, p.3). Gawande is so greatly impacted by this experience that he decides to hire a coach to help him with is professional endeavors.
Summary: Dan is a 40-year-old man who used to play tennis over 20 years ago. One day he decided to pick up his racket and join his friend Kevin for a match. Dan went all out and played an intense match. A week later Dan experience right shoulder pain but still decided to help Kevin move some heavy furniture out of his house. A few days later Dan’s right shoulder got worse and he went to see an orthopedic specialist. The specialist told him that he probably overstretched a ligament or muscle during his tennis match and that lifting of heavy furniture only aggravated his condition. Afraid that he had torn his rotator cuff, the specialist sent Dan for a MRI. Dan is concerned if he will ever be able to play tennis again.
Tennis has been a major part of my life and still continues to be a major factor in my life. Tennis was the highlight of my time during high school, I met so many new people, made so many friends, and had so much fun. Tennis has been a major source of joy for me ever since I started playing. The sport has altered my friend groups, brought joy to me, and altered my life path. A big reason why I picked to go to Otterbein was tennis, if I wasn’t going to play tennis then who knows where I might have gone to college. In college tennis has built my friend groups and shaped who I
After injuries ended my father’s tennis career, he picked up the game of golf. I tagged along when I could after school, and we would play a few holes most evenings. The slow pace of the game created an atmosphere where communication at his pace seemed normal, my anxious eight-year-old self began to listen to his great stories and advice. My father and myself were becoming best friends through the game of golf.
When I was younger, I loved to play sports. Basketball was my favorite and I was always one of the best on the team. I could jump high to get rebounds, I could use my long arms to steal many balls, I had a great shot and I did it all with grace. It was a beautiful thing and probably the only time I ever felt completely included in a group of people. Even though I was a valuable asset to the teams I played on, I was never the best. I missed many practices because I was too tired to play. I missed some games because I was sick, and I could never run as long or hard as any one else. My parents, teachers and friends reduced me to a lazy hypochondriac and by the power of suggestion, I almost believed it. At the end of the eighth grade, I could not do it anymore. I needed to sleep all afternoon, and sharp pains stabbed my legs with every step I took. Furthermore, I had just realized that I was a lesbian and the stress was causing me to be excessively distracted. How could I have existed with something so powerful living in my body for so long and not know it until now? I guess society’s expectations had blinded me. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20; as I reexamined my life as of that far, I could see that it had always been with me. So with the fatigue, stress, pain and illness I called it quits just a few games before the end of the season.
My love for tennis blossomed at the young age of eleven. During middle school my peers knew me as the boy who was remarkably talented at tennis and I savored that title. Butterflies floated throughout my youthful body whenever someone complimented me. As the years passed, my dad nurtured me into a top player. Before I knew it high school arrived and it was time to compete at a higher level. My excitement was out of this world, but I knew my dad could no longer push me forward and my future was up to me. However, the ego I developed over the years blocked what lie in front of me. I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture; the hard work demanded of me, teamwork, and the motivation to reach an ultimate goal. Throughout my four years of participating
Hearing the loud “thump” as the ball hits the racket is extremely satisfying, especially if your life now revolves around this fast-paced and exhilarating sport. Tennis is an outdoor game played by two individuals or pairs of players on a clay or grass court that’s divided by a low net. Each game is played with tennis rackets and small, yellow elastic balls. Tennis was first introduced in Wales and the United Kingdom in 1873 by “Major Walter Wingfield” (tennistheme.com). While most sports are easy to pick up, tennis takes extreme dedication to learn how to play the game, to perfect the amount of technique it takes, as well as its great impact on one’s personal life.
Since I could toddle along in my diapers, faded pink blanket in hand, I have been playing tennis. Starting at the time I was 2 years old, there hasn’t been a day that has gone by where I haven't been on the court training, playing a match, driving or flying to my next tournament, or thinking about hitting that fuzzy, rubber, yellow ball across the net. Tennis has been a daily focus since before I was born. My mother was an elite professional, and my dad has made his living teaching at the professional level. Having been born into a family where tennis is not only a fun activity but a means of living and income, it was inevitable that I would have aspirations to not only be the best in Canada but to be a household name all over the world.
For the next 13 years I ate, slept, and shat basketball. Through all my international travel, there was never a lapse in my access to the sport. I would peak at the age of 16, being ranked the 3rd best player in my metropolitan area and the leader of the second best team in said area. Unfortunately, during my junior year I endured a career ending knee injury that made me assess how much I truly loved the game. I quickly came to realize that I did not love it enough to push my body through the recovery process required to reach my pinnacle fitness level needed to return to full activity.
It was the start of summer 2002, and the Mid America Youth Basketball (MAYB) national tournament was taking place in Andover, Kansas. Along with the rest of the team, I was excited to play some basketball for the first time since the middle school basketball season was over. Our team, Carlon Oil, had been together and played every summer for the last four years. We were a really good team, with an overall record of 65-4 over those four years and were hoping to continue our legacy. Lonnie Lollar, our coach for the summer, was also the coach of our high school basketball team. I had a history of groin injuries, and every summer it seemed that I would have to sit out at least a game on the bench icing my groin. But this summer was different, and I along with everyone in the gym wouldn't have expected my summer to end with a injury such as a broken leg.
I started to play softball at the young age of eight and I fell in love with the sport. To this day I continue to play but there was a time when I was not sure if I would ever be able to play again. In the summer of 2016, I had suffered from shoulder dyskinesia, meaning my shoulder blade slid out of place and it had to be put back in place. On top of that, the nerves in my shoulder did not know when to start or firing causing pain and discomfort. Most of the time I was in therapy or at doctors trying to get it fixed so I could return to playing softball even with the fear that I would never be able to play again.