Memorial Day Narrative

It was a normal spring night and my baseball game had just started. It was senior night and I was pitching, we had just finish the first half of the first inning. My teammate struck out, it was my turn to hit, I swung for the ball and my leg popped twice. I went down and didn't get back up, My leg was stuck to my chest and I couldn't move it. The visiting team's coach was an EMT he ran over and said ¨this is going to hurt¨ and pulled my leg straight. What had happened was when I swung the bat my leg didn't move and my kneecap dislocated and instead of my ligaments tearing, they stretched and broke my kneecap. This was a challenge for me because this was the first time I had never broken a bone in my life. I went to the doctor and he said nothing was wrong, so my

Powering past defenders and blades of grass alike, I reach my big toe out to barely touch the ball past the last defender. That’s it! With thirty yards to goal I’m all alone; it’s just me and the goalkeeper. One last big touch before I place the ball firmly into the back of the net. Twenty yards out now and I’m already picturing what my goal celebration will be, a quick sprint to the sidelines while my teammates all chase me, finished off with a point and stare to my Dad, per usual. I forgot about one thing, the defender steaming in from my back left side. Winding my right leg back, the defender sideswipes me. I was moving so fast I couldn’t catch myself. Smack! The right side of my face hits the dirt. Blood everywhere, my nose is numb, and my face stings with a type of rug burn sensation I had never felt before. Seems bad enough, but wait for the kicker, I’m not moving. My back tingles for a couple minutes while I lay in a mixture of blood and dirt. Then the tingling goes away, I walk unassisted to the bench, certain that I will

I was excited for a new beginning in my career, maybe to prepare me for high school in the upcoming years. The idea of beating boys in soccer got me excited, my blood pumping harder through my veins and put an extra spring in my step. It was the first practice of our middle school season, where my life would be turned upside down. I ran down the field as normal, going for another shot on goal, but out of nowhere one of boys came from behind and completely took out my knee, causing me to collapse in pain. Lying down on the field, my sanctuary, the place I saw as home was probably the most grueling time of my life. Injuries were common in my life, but this injury was unlike any other. I could not get up off the field and felt as if there was nothing left in my knee, and every time I tried to get up, I fell right back down. I never sat out a practice until that night and figured one day would be enough. One night was clearly not enough, I was never able to catch back up to my full speed, or be able to cut around the field, which resulted in moving positions from forward, to defense to cut back on the running. I thought this would a temporary position, but I played every game in

Throughout my life, I have been playing soccer for eleven years. I have been playing this sport since I was five. Throughout the eleven years, I had so many injures from broken bones to concussions. About two years ago, when I was playing in the finals of a county tournament, I was running down the field and

September 20, 2011 was the day that everything changed. Practice that day was long and excruciatingly hot. My coach did not let me take a rest as I was the only full back we had at the time. Hit after hit, it started to add up and my world was spinning but coach told me to keep going, so I did. The very next snap my world got wrecked. My form became lazy because I was beyond exhausted and dehydrated, my head lead my attempt to break the tackle and the kid making the tackle lead with his head as well. Just like that my body went numb, everything was dark, my eyes were open but I could not see. I had no sense of where I was and where I was going. My name left me. At this point I did not know if I was dead or alive. This was the last time I was ever able to strap up and play the game of football. This is what happens to the millions of kids who play football on a daily basis. Somebody was there telling them to go back in even when they were showing early signs of a concussion. The athlete takes one more hit straight to the head out of poor form or exhaustion and then everything goes from bad to worse. These events take place at such a young age that the long term side effects can be fatal.

This Essay is based on the remembrance of this day, Memorial Day. Memorial Day, what it means to me, it means to me that it is a day dedicated to a day to remember the heros who had fallen before the civil war and beyond that. But to me specifically it means much more than just the meaning of “Memorial Day”.

He was getting closer to the goal than I was comfortable with, so I stepped in front of him and cut him off. When I did this, he made a 180 degree turn up the field and so did I. I tried to at least. There was a gaping hole in the field, one much too big than there should have been. I planted my right foot to make the cut and it all went downhill from there. My ankle twisted and I heard all sorts of disgusting noises. It snapped, it cracked and it popped. As soon as my back hit the pitch I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t. At this point, I knew that my senior soccer season was over and my last chance at beating those people who were so mean to me had slipped right through my

Final minutes of the first half winding down, my team was marching down the field with a purpose. Across the gridiron was our rival team, Mayfield, who we had beat the previous year in the state championship game. It was a cold November night and the stage was set, playing on their home field, “The Field of Dreams,” in Las Cruses, New Mexico in the semi-finals of the state tournament. Up 14-0, we had the ball and were trying to score before going into halftime. I was handed the ball for a running play and then it happened. Falling to the ground as if I had been shot, I had completely torn my hamstring. I was in complete shock as I lay on the ground. As the pain

I was in my second to last game of the season playing against our rival. Throughout all my years of sports, which has been about 8-10 years. I got the hand off and started running the ball and I had open ground out of the corner of my eye I got smashed from the side by an opponent. I went down hard to the ground and I blacked out for a couple seconds. I couldn’t even stand or walk on my own for a little while I was so dizzy. When I got up and could finally see I could walk, I was taking the trainer, but if I looked at the sun it would hurt.

There were two minutes remaining on the clock. My opponent moved to make a shot. The only problem was, I was blocking her path. She took swift steps, aimed, and kicked the ball towards the goal with all her might. Unfortunately, she never made the goal. Instead, the ball whacked the side of my head, hard, leaving me with an experience that would greatly impact my junior year.

After playing five years of house league my skating had improved immensely, insomuch as, at the age of twelve, I decided to audition for the top major peewee travel team in the region. Following two intensive weeks of tryouts, I was elated to discover that I made the team. Although I was enthusiastic at the prospect of excelling as a defenseman, I was somewhat apprehensive about how I would integrate with a team whose players, all friends, had played together since the age of eight. Early on I experienced isolation in the dressing room, some of that in part due to my shy nature at the time, as well as being the kid from house league that took one of their friend’s place on the team. For the most part, I was the teammate that did not get

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I played for a team called the Centreville Tigers and we were on the second game of the playoffs. During the 3rd quarter of this game I went to sack the quarterback and when I tackled him I fell right on my right shoulder and broke my collar bone. At first I didn’t know that it was broke until I tried to get up and then I realized that I wasn’t able to get up so I laid there until my coaches came over to pick me up. While picking me they asked me what was hurting and I told them it

She past me the ball, I took a jump stop and my left knee turned inward to my right knee. My knee turned so bad that the left one touched the right one making a popping sound. I fell to the court in pain while the tears mixed with sweat. The coaches had to call for an ambulance to take me to Cook’s Children Hospital.

My most memorial day was when I got arrested for having marijuana on me and hanging out with the wrong crowd. It was the worst day of my life, because it was my first time and I thought I was never going to see daylight again. My parents were very disappointed in me that they wanted me to go so I could learn my lesson. This is how it all started and how I made it threw to become a better person.