Personal Narrative: How Soccer Changed My Life

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

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

September 13, 2014, it was my fourth official varsity soccer game as a freshman and I was starting. I was put on outside wing, defending one of the strongest seniors Horseheads High School had and I was nothing but confident and motivated. All of the sudden I hear a few pops and a crack and I was on the ground and was unable to move my right leg. Complete shock filled my body and I did not know how to react; my older sister and my coach flashed in front of my eyes and I could not comprehend what was happening. Later that week I was told I had torn my ACL and I would be out of soccer for approximately six months.

By this time I would be on the track getting my workout in to run the 300 hurdles. I was solid in that event, but the events I took the most pride in was the 400 and the 4 by 4. It had been a rough ending to basketball season but this would be the major turning point for me. I could make it all up by going to state. My track coach knew my coach from middle school so she has heard quite a bit about me. I never really had training or anything I just ran at first. I started to do summer training and ran with a local track team. Coach George wanted me to run the 200. It was new to me so we trained in the mornings before school. She bought in the assistant coach and he had me and few more girls lined up on the track. He wanted us to stand side by side and sprint out and merge into lane one. It was kind of crazy because we were all kind of jumbled up together. The first time as I merged into lane one my legs tripped another girl and she fell so I felt bad. So the third time I tried to make sure I didn't trip anyone up because my legs were so long. I dodge tripping the same girl but I almost hit another. By the fourth time I was really just over it, I jerked my body one way and my hip went the other. I ended up limping to the finish line. I thought it was just a little kink and I could just pop it out. I was completely wrong. It was way worse than the ankle injury. I guess it was a sign from good telling me to

That same summer, the summer before freshman year, I tried out for my another team in my town, which is my current team. My shoulder had rested its 12 weeks, and I was cleared by the doctor, I could resume training. Starting off everything went as planned, then I experienced the same pain, and being afraid what my new coach would say, I said nothing. Two entire, excruciating weeks

Second football game of my senior year season, I was super hyped to go out there and show people that I can give more effort than I did in our first game against Zimmerman even though we won. Later on in the game, 2nd quarter I made a big tackle on the defensive side against Saint Louis Park then all of a sudden a 350 pound offensive line on the Saint Louis Park team knees me in the back while both teams were in a dog pile. When I got up to get back into the huddle my back felt very stiff and I could barely walk back to the sidelines to my teammates, honestly it was so bad that the refs had to call a timeout but a little back injury didn’t stop

I learned to love soccer at young age because of the thrill that it came with and the future I saw myself. Soccer was my way out of stress and all my problems, it has help me escape when I need it the most. All my life my goal was to play professional and to have a job that I love to do but to also support and spoil my family in anyway needed no matter the price. My goal still carries on till this day but after the accident that I had at a tournament that sent me to the hospital I have been nervous ever since. If it's one thing my mother taught me it's to never give up so that accident won't stop me from accomplishing my

I have been playing soccer since the age of 3, and I fell in love with the sport as soon as I felt my foot impact the beauty of the ball. All through my childhood, soccer was my life, it was my passion, and I couldn't go a day without playing. From playing at lunch time on the concrete floor with my friends and getting all sweaty in our gray preppy uniforms, to playing on the school

With my stick in my hand and passion in my heart, I looked to my left to see the group of fearsome girls practicing in silence on the turf field. With this sight, I muttered quietly to myself underneath my breath, “Never Again”. Over the course of my enduring three years in high school so far, I have been apart of many different communities with diverse people coming together to express unity amongst each other. The exposure of different clubs, sports teams, and friend groups have shown me many unique ideas and lessons. However, the lesson I have valued the most was my choice of finding a sport that made me feel more positive and allowed me to succeed to my full potential.

Spring of my junior year in high school, I joined track with wishful thinking. I’m going to do track, run sprints, and get into great shape for summer. However, with my luck it didn’t work out how I wanted. A week into the track season, I went to our school’s field to play a pick-up game of soccer. In the process of going to the field, I had to climb over a fence. Simple? I really should of thought this through, but didn’t. As I jumped over and landed, a loud pop sound came from my knee loud enough for my friends to hear. I sat there crying in front of my friends for a minute or two, but got up trying to walk it off. As you can see no is not an option for me, as I tried play a soccer game with a swollen knee cap. I was confused what happened, I didn’t know exactly happened. But sharp pains were shooting through my leg as I limped around the field. Little did I know a swollen and bruised knee meant torn ligaments.

I was hurdling pushing off my leg in mid air and I felt a pop in my right hamstring. I thought I had a charlie horse or something. I fell on the ground holding my hamstring. I was stuck on the ground for a while and the trainer had to bring some crutches down.

Walking off the field injured was ordinary but different, off but right, efficient and wise. I’m there sitting on the bench and I could see all my teammates faces in shock. My arm was in the shape of a “s” and the trainers didn’t know what to do. In the end, one of the main trainers took me into the locker room and they took my shoulder pads off and then sent me to the hospital in an

When i got hurt i went off the field because it was hurting alot.It was on my left ankle.It started to get swollen every five minutes.I was resting my ankle on the chair.I

Finally, the nurse came into the room and delivered the news. The nurse told my mom and I that I tore a ligament in my ankle, sprained my knee, ankle. When the nurse told me that it shattered my heart because I knew I wouldn’t be able to play for the rest of soccer season. I sat there on the hospital in shock and didn’t say a single word until the nurse came back into the room with the crutches. Once the nurse gave me the crutches and got me adjusted on those she told me that I would be out for the rest season and told me better luck next

On the third play of defense I shot off the line and barely slipped by the offensive tackle who aimed to take out my legs. I bolted down the line pursuing the ball carrier in a mass of offenders and I was getting ready to tackle the running back. I had planted my foot to help tackle the running back and all of a sudden the bottom part of my left leg crunched. I tried to get off the ground but it was difficult. I kept trying to stand up, but my leg wouldn’t let me, it kept knocking me off of my feet. I eventually got up on my right leg and started hopping to the side line. The whole time I was screaming at the coaches to get me a substitute and I was cursing as well. I was about halfway to the sideline before I started crying, but I wasn’t crying because it hurt, I was crying because this was my year to do the best that I ever had in football, my senior year.