The dictionary defines toughness as “strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough or careless handling” or “involving considerable difficulty or hardship; requiring great determination or effort”. Toughness was something I had to learn to own during this hard period of my life. It was the spring of 2014 , just another normal day at practice. Then during a play in our daily “ 7 on 7” drill , I jumped up to tip a possible touchdown pass . Unbeknownst to me that reaction would change the fabric of my existence forever. On my way down, I attempted to break my fall with my hand reached out and made contact with the ground, tearing multiple ligaments in my shoulder. At the time I didn't know the severity, I just felt a pop in my shoulder …show more content…
I was in the trainer’s office early Sunday morning to go over my options , we decided on surgery. After a few weeks, I had an MRI and I learned that I had torn my labrum and separated my rotator cuff. My surgery was scheduled for the next week , I never spent any amount of time in the hospital so I was a bit nervous , but everything went smoothly as the surgeon predicted. The next few months following the surgery were extremely difficult. I had this shoulder- arm brace that prevented me from doing simple things like , putting on my clothes, cooking , playing a video game and not to mention the excruciating pain that affected me constantly. After a few months and a bunch of pain pill prescriptions, I was able to remove the brace and begin therapy. Initially, it was very taxing but the more I went the more the condition of my shoulder progressed. The future was looking up and was excited about the opportunity to be playing football one hundred percent …show more content…
I hit the gym hard every day , with my team and on my own time , as well as the football field . Doing sprints, footwork and speed drills, burning the midnight oil ,trying to push my mental and physical limits as far as they could possibly go. I refused to be outworked by any and everyone. This offseason, however , I decided to do something I never did , I worked out with the track and cross- country team. I figured that a lot of running would my speed , endurance and overall confidence some good. In the beginning, I had serious doubts whether I could undertake this task because the idea of running for long periods of time was tiring to think about, much less do. My first day was horrible as I expected , as a matter of fact, my first week was horrible, but I was a fighter. The second week came around and I actually started to feel comfortable , making friend with the guys and giving some of them competition in
In November of 2010, I was playing basketball in the fifth game of my senior season. It was just like any other game. However, I would soon find out otherwise. It was late in the game; I drove into the lane and got fouled hard. I was knocked so off-balance that I speared the floor with my knee. As soon as my knee hit the floor I heard a “snap” that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Little did I know at the time, that would be the last shot of my high school basketball career. Not long after my injury, I consulted a doctor. After getting an x-ray and an MRI, the doctor informed me that I had completely torn my ACL and would need to have surgery. An ACL tear can be a very devastating injury. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the four major ligaments within the knee. The ACL is one of the most commonly injured ligaments, injured by an estimated 200,000 patients each year. Of the 200,000 annual ACL injuries, surgery is performed in approximately 100,000 cases. There are many types of reconstructive surgery on the ACL. However, there is an alternative to surgery in the form of physical therapy.
So i have therapy mondays and wednesday. And when i went back that monday my therapist was surprised of how good i’ve gotten, because i was able to move my knee more and bend my knee more than 70%. She told me that it was good but my goal is 120% or more, for me to get to the next step of surgery. So i focused on that, and i was putting in twice as much as work i usually put in. Because the only thing that's on my mind is to get back on the field and work my way to become stronger and better. Also do what i love to do and enjoy playing with my friends and family. That's the only thing i’m striving for is to come back healthy and strong. And not do the same mistake as i did before to put myself in that situation. Finally almost that time for me to receive a phone call from my sergeant to tell me what i should do before i come in for surgery. She told me to not eat or drink once it's 7:00 because i was scheduled to have surgery at 9:30 and also she told me not to put on any lotion on my knees. So i did what she asked me to, and that whole day i been thinking about what is going to happen and would i ever be the same and how would it take for me to come back and be fully healed. So i went to the hospital it was almost time for me to have surgery and i was kind of scared but i was really looking forward to just get it all over with it. After i got done with surgery i was in so much pain that couldn’t move at all. Because if i even tried to move my leg that i would be in so much pain that i have to drink my pain killers. Once i got home i was in so much pain that i didn’t sleep for a whole week straight. But then i started getting used to sleeping without a problem or pain. But my doctor would always called me and told me what to do or if i had any problem to just give her a call. Then i asked her the next day when i could start walking and stuff. She
Little did I know my whole C-Squad season would come to this. School had finally let out, and we began to play summer ball for the VFW team, I was playing with older kids and the varsity coach, which both really intimidated me. Out of my element, I had lost all of the confidence I had in me, and possibly played my worst baseball ever that summer. I was so shaken and angry with myself, I truly began to contemplate the pros and cons of even playing ball anymore. After many days of thinking, I told myself, I will work harder and play harder than any other person on my team. After that season I had began something very new to me, which was lifting weights. Afterall I thought how easy can it be, it’s picking up weight and putting it back down, and i’ll be jacked in no time. Quicker than a flash reality hit me, and lifting was way more difficult than I had first thought. There was all the form and different types of lifts such as: Clean, Deadlift, Squat, Bench Press, all of the basics. My sophomore year began, and I was still far behind on my new goal, and that’s when I went to one of my best friends, John who is very stocky and strong, practically a pro
I signed up to run track in the spring and went to summer conditioning for cross country. That’s when my coaches, teammates, and myself noticed that my running has improved significantly from when I first started. I knew that I had to work hard my senior year to achieve my goals for running. Running is a mental sport. The workouts I had to do were brutally painful and I had stay positive throughout the run because I know the training I had to do will help me during a race.
It then started to get harder and each day was a different workout to help me and my teammates improve. I was at a point where all I could do was attend school, go to practice and go home. Each day I was beyond tired. At a point of time I felt like giving up and going back to my regular life, and regular schedule. As the coach started to notice how I felt, he pulled me to the side and started to question what was going on. I explained, but everything I said was not a good enough reason. My coach told me, “If this is what you really want you won’t give up, no matter how hard it may get you will overcome it.” That day I learned a valuable lesson, to never give up.
Do well on my third pathophysiology exam on Friday. I plan to do this by studying at least 2 hours each day, studying with a partner, and on Wednesday I am going to meet with my tutor.
Track was my only sport, so I worked really hard to be the best that I can be. Track wasn't the only thing that i tried to be the best in, rather I was trying to be a better person overall. In 8th grade, I was no longer pre-diabetic or had any other health concerning issues, I was fit and strong. At the end of 8th grade, I weighed 165 (10 lbs less than 6th grade) and my height was 5’10” ( 5 inches more than 6th grade). My maxes now are 270 on bench, 535 on squat, 585 on deadlift, which as you can tell is a major jump from 6th grade.
Toughness is just a term that many individuals use to describe they’re ability to believe that their not weak in any way. Playing the game of basketball and being a part of the team is more than just being tough. Basketball is more of being determined, strong, and willing to become a better athlete. When you have the mindset that I am tough and no one can give you pointers to make your game better. Does not make you an athlete nor makes you tough. What makes any ball player tough are the struggles and the process you go through to make you better. We as players have our ups and downs. As soon as we give up, were no longer determined, strong, and willing. As soon as we give up this problem is what makes us weak, and what coach wants a weak player on their team that gives up in any possible way. There are three words that describe the term tough and these words are being determined, being strong , and willing to learn and become an overachiever in the game of basketball.
I went to the doctor four times over a period of two years and he kept shrugging it off like it was nothing. Finally, I could no longer take the pain so I went to a different doctor. This doctor also told me it was nothing. After tons of tears shed in multiple ball games, I finally convinced the doctor to scope out my shoulder. He told me if he were to find anything he would fix it then, but he also warned me that if he didn’t find anything then there was nothing we could do about the pain. I know it sounds crazy, but I prayed to God he would find something. Fortunately, the doctor told me my shoulder looked like that of a forty year old man. I had a rare problem that he had only seen eight times in his career. This injury caused me to miss out on softball my junior year. This was hard because my best friends who I played with since I was eight were graduating and I knew I would never play with them again. Because my life revolves around sports, this injury was huge setback for me. I had to deal with unbelievable amounts of pain so I wouldn’t let my team down. My shoulder has taught me how to deal with adversity on all
I joined my school’s cross country team in the summer. At the beginning we performed pre-season workouts. The training was tough, but my proud personality and the very thought of what I had to gain kept me motivated and helped me push through the pain. Every time I felt like giving up or quitting, I would say to myself, “This pain is only temporary; remember that the reward will be permanent, and it will be worth the pain that I endure today.” I was able to push through the
The submitted documentation revealed that the claimant completed a total of 50 postoperative physical therapy sessions for the left shoulder with noted improvement in pain and strength. However, she continued having left shoulder tightness, stiffness, limited internal rotation, limited glenohumeral joint glides, and a pain with stretching and when reaching above the chest height. The request for additional physical therapy visits exceeded guideline recommendation. Moreover, there were no special circumstances documented that would prevent a safe transition to a self-directed home exercise
Over the course of my life, I have seen a numerous amount of people who’ve tried to become the best and failed miserably. Surprisingly, one example is me. Over the summer, I joined the Sunny Hills cross country team because running wasn’t a big deal, right? Wrong. When I came to practice, I was all pumped up and ready to impress the coach, but it was only my first run. I was already getting ahead of myself, which exemplifies pride, although I had never ran in my life before. To continue, when I started to do warm-up laps, which is a mile, I was one of the first runners to finish, as a matter of fact, it was called a “warm-up” for a reason. I thought that everyone was really slow and that they sucked at
There have been many times that I have questioned myself in the sport. It’s not only the physical aspect that is hard, it is the mental aspect as well. Situations like not eating when you come home from practice so you can lose weight. It’s waking up two hours before school starts so you can run to lose weight. It’s believing in yourself when no one else does.
I devoted so much time and effort into that sport and to stop playing seriously like this was heart breaking. I listened to all my family and friends about how fast I was and decided to try out track. I knew that I wouldn’t hurt by doing this and I didn’t want to stop playing sports. I always thought how track would be a sport where if you have natural talent, you will be good. I decided to give it a go and after running over a mile in the first practice I was a little reluctant to keep going. I couldn’t keep running all these long distances when I’m not in shape for it. I kept telling myself this so I would just keep pushing through it. My mind was in a million places questioning if I should have just stuck with playing basketball even though I didn’t find it was fun as it used to be. So, after a few months of hard training and practice, I stuck with track. My coach, my family and my friends all persuaded me to do it because they thought I would do good and strive throughout the season. This was a hard change for
It was simple, at first thought, my career was over. As I was rushed to the hospital, I thought I was never going to play football again. The pain was so unbearable, that every bump in the road would sent a shooting pain throughout my leg. I was for certain that I would never return the field again.