Personal Narrative: My Life As A College Athlete

It has always been said that teenagers are defiant. Like some genetic flaw in the system from the years 12 to 19. Our reasoning skills and common sense go out the window. We make stupid choices and poor decisions. We hate being told what we can not, should not, do. I was no different when my doctor told me that I would never play sports again. My entire life I have been an athlete and sports have always dominated my life. I have always expected to play sports in college because that has always been my final goal. I am currently a two sport varsity athlete in lacrosse and softball and in a matter of about thirty seconds my world was turned upside down.
It was your typical March day in Georgia, unnaturally hot and humid. However that day was

different. My senses were heightened and I felt unstoppable. The previous night I had broken the save record for a single game by almost twice as much. The best shooter on my team cut across the field to take a shot only ten feet in front of me. I slow my breathing, step to my left, and swing my stick across my body to block a top corner shot. Suddenly I am filled with pain, dropping the stick from my right hand. It feels as though all the air has been sucked from my lungs and the pain radiates from the tips of my finger up into my neck. I drop to my knees clutching my arm in shock from the pain. The worst case scenario has happened and all I know is pain.
The doctor would later tell me that I have what is called a SLAP tear and that I would need a surgery to attach my labrum back to my biceps. I am listening to him, but I do not hear the words coming out of his mouth. I know that surgery means seven months in a sling and six months of rehab equaling thirteen total months. This means that I would be at full strength just in time for graduation. He told me that I am done playing sports and that my senior season would not be able to happen. He said that I would never be strong enough and that surgery would be a long, painful process.
It was at that point that I asked myself if it was even worth the trouble.

It was like I was dropped into the deep end of a pool and I was not even strong enough to swim my way out. It was June by then and I was in a sling which meant that I could barely write. From the month of June up until August I attended physical therapy two times a week and had to work out and stretch every other day. When I was not with my physical therapist I spent every second of my free time with my team. I was not strong enough to make six foot throws but I was there everyday they were and then some. I worked childrens camps, I organized t-shirts, I drove 45 minutes twice a day to help bring equipment and support those that I could. When we had to be at practice at 5:30 in the morning and again at three in the afternoon I was always there. I learned the names of every terrified freshman that would take my place in nine short months because I was just as scared as they were. I was having to do something that would take more than prayers from close friends and family. What I was having to do would take everything that I have inside of me and then some because not playing my senior year was not an option to me. Five short months ago I had no use of my arm and today I throw further than I ever have, no surgery required. Occasionally I will push myself too hard and I will feel a pain that I remember forever, but I a strong. I never thought I was going to be able to join the military like I had always

planned to because of my injury. I have been blessed with the opportunity to attend the University of North Georgia and be a member of their corps of cadets not from any form of luck, but from complete will power and fight. It has always been said that to do anything that you are scared to do, it takes thirty seconds of insane courage. That same courage the comes from deep down inside of you is the same that has given soldiers strength on the front lines to drag a wounded friend back to safety. It is what gives an outfielder the strength to lay out for a ball they would otherwise never reach. It comes from deep inside of your gut and it is one of the most primal things you can feel. My coaches call it grit and it can give you the strength to achieve the impossible. I am still not quite sure what I may accomplish in my future, but I know that I have already seen the bottom. All I need is a little bit of grit and thirty seconds of insane courage and I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.