In sports, injuries happen all the time. When watching the TV as a kid, I would often see an athlete have a career-ending injury and wonder what was going through his head, but I never expected this to happen to me.
Heading into this football season, I had earned the starting wide receiver position. I worked all offseason for this moment and was super excited to get my first real varsity experience.
Then, in week three, the unexpected happened. While blocking someone on a run play, I moved my right leg back to get into a better position, and I heard a loud pop. As I went down onto the ground, I knew that my senior season was over. The next morning, I went to the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute to get checked out. I had X-rays and MRI scans done and was later informed that I had torn my ACL and my meniscus.
Although my season was over, I decided that I didn’t want to just sit on the sidelines, bummed out. I wanted to make a difference and be a leader on the team. I continued to support my teammates and give them advice. One of my strengths had always been understanding the playbook. Being in this situation gave me the opportunity to share some of my knowledge with younger players to help them be successful. If someone didn’t know what a play was, I would step in and make sure they knew what they were doing. If someone ran the wrong route or missed a blocking assignment, I would correct them so that they wouldn’t make the same mistake.
Now that the season is over, the injury is hitting twice as hard. Going to physical therapy three days a week with still eight months of recovery left. Doing workouts at home and seeing barely any improvement. It feels like you’re never going to be fully healthy again. The recovery is a mental challenge, and you just have to keep pushing the knee to its full capacity. From the bending and straightening of the knee, I will continue to work hard to be back to myself.
While the team might not have been as successful as I had hoped, football helped me grow as a human being. Football gave me core memories of playing the game that I loved. While my football career is over, I will always remember the great times football gave me.
This injury has taught me patience and that recovery is a long process. Not everything is going to get better instantly, but there is always something I can get better at. My goal is to get better 1% every day and eventually work my way up to 100% so that I can participate in track this year.
