Pivotal Moment

With each throw to home plate he felt a little bit more pain. Instead of resting him Mark Hyman sent his son out to pitch the very next game. Stories like these are not uncommon with anyone who child has played on any team. Over the last few years, adults have taken over kid’s sports. Many children under the age fifteen required medical treatment for sports injuries and nearly half of them are only the result of simple overuse. The quest to turn children into superstar’s are taken a toll on their

But alas, Miss Sifferlin's goal wasn't to be logical or analytical. The goal of her paper is to appeal to parents and coaches about the ramifications of letting kids “play through pain”. Sadness wells up for the amount of children affected by concussions, worry for their safety, and hope that more precautions will be taken. It's not the most delicate of subjects to talk about, but it is one that she broaches with the same type of seriousness and finesse that most will find refreshing.

Often, players will resort to things such as narcotics, getting shot up at halftime with painkillers, or stay in pain the rest of the season. These attitudes are what Culverhouse explores in her novel with the use of ethos provoking stories and statistics that have you questioning if the sport should be

In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, the protagonist goes though psychological development. As she becomes older, due to a pivotal moment, she begins to find her place in the world and appreciate life. Psychological development occurs when the Celie is going from being mentally young to mentally mature. This is what shapes the theme of regardless of your early life, it is up to you what life you will have.

A Worldwide survey of emergency room visits shows that about every 25 seconds, a young athlete visits a hospital emergency room from a sports-related injury (Loehrke and Healy, USA TODAY). Occasional bumps and bruises are expected when kids play sports, but when almost 1.4 million kids are injured and sent to hospitals its catches someone’s eye. Sprains, strains, fractures, contusions, abrasions, and concussions all top the list of ER diagnoses for kids age 6-19. That’s averaging a cost of up to 935 million a year. Many believe these are preventable (Carr, Safe Kids).

Through interviews, Dretzin exhibits real people who have witnessed and suffered concussions in football first hand. “It was a really emotional experience because I remember walking to the intensive care unit” , recounts a student athlete named Will James, who suffered and survived concussion and heat stroke (Frontline). Will James had been emotionally affected by seeing another fellow jock who underwent the same injury of concussion and heat stroke and was now in a coma. Introducing people who have experienced the danger of concussion makes the topic more relatable and personal. A high school student once cracked his skull and bled in a football accident, and his brain had been shifted by 15%, an injury similar to those suffered in car accidents (Buckner). Experiences such as these twist a person’s heart and emotions because injury and pain is difficult to hear about, especially in people so young. Many people have stories to share about sports related concussions. The truth is “concussions are ruining the lives of thousands of kid athletes” (Tarshis). Seeing and hearing a few of these experiences impacts the audience and appeals to emotions in order to show the effect concussions can have on someone’s

Two years ago on a crisp October afternoon following school, I walked to the training room expecting a normal day for us. There would be the tapping of ankles, wrist, and thumbs, along with rehabilitation exercises and the whines and complains of athletes who would sit in the whirlpool for various injuries. After changing into sports medicine attire and putting my books up I was asked to take a framed object next door to the athletic director’s office. While patiently waiting for him to finish a meeting with

My knee suddenly feels as if someone set it on fire, and I instantly know something terrible has happened. My body quickly goes into shock, and I succumb to a sea of blackness. Awaking I hear a loud, sobbing sound of a wounded animal, slowly realizing that sound has come from myself. I open my eyes to see my mom, Coach Pendleton, and the athletic trainer leaning over me with questioning looks, as if they can not see the pain that I am feeling. All three are shouting questions at me as the red and black crowd sits silently with horrified faces. The trainer’s mouth is moving but I have no idea what she is saying, and it is as if I have lost my hearing, because the pain is too much too bear. Finally, I start to regain my thoughts and I can hear the trainer asking, “can you locate your pain for me?” I point to my knee, which is already swollen like a balloon. My mom and Coach Pendleton slowly help me to my feet and carry me to the sidelines like a child, where my team is staring at me with tear-filled eyes. I overhear the trainer talking in hushed voice with my mom, saying, “ I am concerned with the amount of swelling in the ACL area of her knee.” My stomach drops as I consider what she's just said. I will miss many games of my senior year, in the sport I love. My heart slowly shatters as I sit

The ball shot off the bat, blazing at seventy miles per hour toward my right shin. Collapsing to the ground, I was like a tree falling in the woods. Rolling over trying to gather my bearings I heard the first baseman, Sydney Norris, expressed with fear to the second baseman, Hannah Bryant, “I think she just broke her shin.” As I stood up, I noticed Hannah’s face turn from

These three incidents of sports illustrates that injuries can be unpleasant in any sports given and athletes have great amount of risks while they continue their game in the field, in order to amuse their viewers (Bird 91). Apart from the examples mentioned above, there are several small and large accidents that have occurred in the past and they have made the life of sportsmen bitter and even their future uncertain, with respect to their ability to work.

The vast number of injuries sustained while playing sports are sincerely accidents. But unfortunately, some are quite preventable, with the proper training and care. This coach, however, demonstrated all the bad characteristics for someoneone who is responsible for children.

It was Friedrich Nietzschehas who said, “What doesn’t kill you makes, you stronger”. I like to call these moments in a person’s life, “defining moments”. Additionally, I like most people, have had a few of these “defining moments”; probably more than one person should. Growing up, I had a hard time accepting one of my “won’t kill you-make you stronger” moments. It was a moment of betrayal and deceit, inflicted upon by a person I trusted fully and completely, with my life. My mother.

Many people influenced and events my reading and writing development throughout my childhood from my mother, my elementary librarian, and Sesame Street, to getting my first pair of glasses. We all have defining moments in our lives where we can look back and say, “That moment changed my life.” This is the story of the defining moment that changed the way I read and write, and I learned it from a whale!

While being recruited to play basketball, I was asked if I would rather dissect a body or a defense. Though I chose to pursue a career in medicine, basketball has shaped me into the person I am today. As a young child living in the inner city of Newark, basketball was a sanctuary for me because it allowed me to escape the harsh realities that surrounded me. I began to play organized basketball at the age of seven and departed from the game at the age of twenty-three. The countless hours spent perfecting moves fostered my undying determination and work ethic. Ironically, there was also a benefit that came from my injuries sustained while playing. My love of medicine became fueled by the desire to acquire knowledge on the human body as a means to take preventative measures against injuries.

The medical field had crossed this competitors mind a time or two, but was never anything serious. An elective credit was needed to complete the semester, so this fragile freshman decided to sign up for the athletic trainer course. Reed had no awareness of what was in store for the future. This novice trainer stood on the side lines during every football season, hydrating the players, taking care of sprained ankles, injured wrists, and finally a broken femur. It was then, junior year, that this novice trainer became a future paramedic. High school ended in December 2002, when this early graduate walked across the stage and the forthcoming journey began.