Personal Narrative: A Career As An Athlete

What is the only thing harder than disciplining a dozen ten year olds? Disciplining them on ice! All throughout my life I’ve played sports, and no matter what sport it was, there was always one person who seemed to have it out for me…the referee. The referee is one of the most hated people in the world of sports, but is also one of the most crucial. I grew up with the mindset that the referee was the enemy. Whenever they made a call against me or my team, they were always wrong, no matter how obvious the penalty was. But one day, my whole perspective on referees changed---the day I became a referee.

It was just another school night in the seventh grade. Our recreational tackle football team had a practice at 730pm until 9. It was a very swampy night and from that I felt myself very sluggish. At the time, I was a backup running back. I was always left on the sidelines facing the chills of the cold wind during games. I typically didn’t get to see much playing time on the field, but that night I got my opportunity. I was receiving kicks during a punting audition and all I was doing was catching the ball and throwing it back, nothing unique. One throw after another, my coach began to praise my arm strength. Seeing me pass the ball was a true eye-opener. That night, I went from a backup running back, to the starting quarterback of my rec

How did Roger Banister break the 4 min mile? How did Dennis Kimetto run a marathon in 2:02:57?

My clinical rotation for the fall semester of my junior year is with the King’s College Men’s soccer team. As an athletic training student, I hold a lot of responsibilities regarding the prevention, evaluation, diagnosis, management, and treatment of these student athletes. Most of my daily activities can be separated into three groups, the pre-practice, pre-game, during the activity, and post- practice and post-game.

Instead of feeling pressure to conform as a student at the University of Georgia, I have found that being in college has made me value the importance of a higher education more so than I ever had before. During high school, my primary goal was to play well enough to receive a football scholarship. At that time, my focus was not on academics. However, since I've arrived at the University of Georgia, my entire concept of the value of a college degree has slowly changed. Rather than seeing just football in my future, I can now picture myself as a football player with a college degree. Consequently, instead of having a negative impact on my personal growth, college has helped me broaden as a person.

In the summer before my senior year, I tore my ACL while playing a small soccer scrimmage. The doctor explained my injury as very common in female soccer. But the heartbreaking reality made me feel much more than the statistic on the dry erase board that Dr. Mayer held. I loved waking up, going to school, and finishing the day with some type of sports practice! After the incident happened, I cried and whimpered for hours as my leg swelled to the size of a balloon. But the pain was much more than skin and muscle deep. With a post-surgery recovery time of nine months, I realized my high school athletic career had come to an abrupt and expeditious end. I had also ran out of college credits at my small school in the same year. Because of this,

In the late spring semester of my senior year in high school. I decided to take a risk with my future. All throughout high school I, identified as a football player. From a freshman I was placed on varsity and throughout my career I contributed heavily in games. Glaring into my history of sports I naturally believed college football was the route for me. During my final season as a high school student. I a major family set back. Lucky for me one of my teammates could not bare to see me leave during the middle of the season. He offered that I stay with him for the finish of the football season. I accepted his offer with much embarrassment and shame. For the first time the spotlight of being needy that I had been dodging all of my life finally caught up to me.

I am not like other people where I’ve had difficulties with my family but I have had one major struggle that has impacted my life. It did not affect me for just one summer it will be affecting me for the rest of my life. The exceptional hardship I have had was when I broke my leg in five places and had to overcome the difficulties of getting better. It was such a difficult experience because it affected my love of playing basketball. However, that experience led me on my path in pursuing a career in Sports Medicine. Breaking my leg was awful but it helped me think about what I wanted to study when I go into college.

My adrenaline coursed through my body and my nerves were at an all time high as I was finally getting to play in my first game as a Varsity Wildcat. All my hard work had led up to this moment and there was no way I was going to mess it up. The all too familiar smell of the fresh cut grass made me feel comfortable at that moment and I lined up as the strong side linebacker and got ready for the play to start. Steam filled my helmet and my breathing got gradually quicker and quicker. The quarterback hiked the ball and I knew exactly what play they were running. I threw myself into the gap I needed to and made the tackle, but as I headed to the ground there was a violent crackling in my right knee. The whistle blew again and I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t. A flurry of emotions flooded my brain: fear, anxiety, pain, sadness, regret. When the trainer got me to the bench to see what had gone, wrong he determined that I had torn my Meniscus and I would be out for the season. All my effort on the difficult, hot, summer practice all nulled from this one moment. All my aspirations of

It was a warm summer morning on August 28, 1998 when my mother went into Sioux Valley hospital to give birth to a baby boy. After an agonizing 15 hours in labor, I was born. They named me Bryce meaning “Nobel One.” My full name was Bryce Jay Edberg, I got this middle name after my father, which his middle name was also Jay. Being born at exactly 4:03 a.m., with a staggering 23 inch body and weighing 10 lb 4oz the delivery was nothing less then painful.

This past week has been a struggle trying to focus on the present, caused by the stress of the future. The big question that determines what environment to live in, concerns me through my interests. I was positive about my decision to play ball through my university years, I was committed to become part of a larger and more challenging team. The question wasn’t really a question because I finally knew what I wanted to do with the next 6 years, do you want a scholarship? Are you committed? Do you know your duties of participating on a university team? Are you sure that you want to play and get an education in the U.S.?

On the second day in San Francisco we were headed to professional baseball game. The Oakland A’s verse the Minnesota twins. The drive to the stadium had taken a goo solid hour and my family’s stomachs started to grumble. When we had finally arrived to the stadium and my dad thought it would be cheaper to eat in a place outside the stadium. We drove around for a familiar place to grab a snack. My sister spotted a McDonalds and we all agreed that is a good place to stop. We got closer and my mom said, “Have you ever been scared to walk into McDonalds?”

Yards became smaller as country gave way to the edge of town. We were forced to skirt slightly larger groups of zombies by darting through backyards and leaping fences. I was amazed at how easily I was able to conquer these obstacles. The past few months were like boot camp. My muscles had atrophied due to an easy life as a college professor, but a few months of living on the run had turned a once lethargic human being into a first class athlete.

Falling short as an athlete is something that isn't acceptable. Making us as a group push to ack has been something that all through elementary school and middle school I enjoyed doing actually loved. As a highschool freshman this whole track thing really hit me hard. Like literally. The workouts are pretty intense, in meaning there a lot of sprinting endurance based making it hard. I didn't track pre season which really wasn't a help and our endurance for volleyball wasn't even to par then. So I was really coming into track season a blob of mess and fat. But I had a good heart and great intentions. Krumb our coach who also doubles as the boys football coach, which is totally insane by the way trains us like linebackers or something. I

I met with my personal health professor because she seemed like somebody who’s really open and easy to talk to. I also met with her because I wanted to know who I was in the class, I didn’t just want to be another student on her roster in case we were to build a relationship throughout the semester. During our meeting I asked her questions about the syllabus; I was confused about assignments. After she further explained everything to me I asked more about her career. In addition to being a professor, she’s been a physical therapist for 20 plus years. I’m on the path to becoming a physical therapist so I was really excited when she told us she was a PT. I asked so many questions about how PT school was, the curriculum, and the density of the