I have had four major injuries this year. I am a five sport athlete. Football. Baseball. Wrestling. Basketball. Track. My main sport is football. It was the first time in my life time that I had ever broken a bone. We were playing Duniway for the second football game of the season. I was in the defensive backfield when the ball was snapped. I rushed back through the line to get a sack, but the quarterback kept running backwards, away from me. I finally caught up with him, grabbed him and brought him down. Unfortunately, I pulled him down on top of me. My ankle was twisted underneath my body; I landed on my leg, he landed on top of me. I was not wearing the right cleats because Tristan took one of mine. My dad and one of our family friends came over to check me out. As soon as my dad saw my ankle he dashed right across the middle of the field telling my mom to get the car. When we got to the hospital I first went to x-rays. My x-ray technician was an idiot. She was telling me to bend my foot up towards my head. Of course I couldn’t, my ankle was broken. We didn’t know that yet though. We had to wait an hour for the doctor to get to us. In the meanwhile I was in great pain. The doctor called us in to the room.

The first thing he said was “It’s broken.” We just stared at him wondering if he was not right. I was in denial. I burst into tears. I got my splint. Thank God the injury was not too severe.

Right after football season is wrestling season. I still had a few weeks to heal before I was allowed to do any physical activity. The day I was released from my broken ankle I went to wrestling practice. Everything was going great until I was demonstrating a sprawl. When I put my hand down I caught my finger and snap!

My mom said, “Don’t worry about it.”

I didn’t until I got home that night. My hand had turned purple and was the size of a baseball. I had gone to a high school basketball game and the nurse saw me she told me to go to the doctor as soon as possible. The next day I went to the doctor and got x-rays. Do you know how long it takes to get x-ray results back from the doctor? Well, it takes forever. A week later I saw the orthopedic specialist and they put a cast on my hand because I had fractured the growth plate of my middle finger. If I didn’t get that fixed my middle finger would not grow properly. I asked if I was going to be able to wrestle. The doctor told me that I could not wrestle this year. My heart just sank.

I was in that cast for about five weeks. When I got it off I was extremely relieved because during the next two days we had basketball tryouts. I was having a really good year in basketball. I was second for the most points and I was the number one defender. Then it happened. I jumped up to get a rebound and as I came down, I landed on the side of my right ankle. At first I thought it was broken. It felt the same as when I broke my ankle in football. I felt a pop and then it felt like fire went down into my ankle. I was on the ground screaming, “Why?” and “not again!” I was helped off the court and when I looked down; my ankle was literally the size of a softball. I went to the same hospital as the first time. They took x-rays and that night we were relieved to find out that it wasn’t broken. However, it was severely sprained. I asked the dreaded question, “Will I be able to play basketball before the end of the season? The doctor replied with a firm, “no.” I lost it. I was thinking that I would never heal. I lost my hope. I basically gave up.

After being released from my sprained ankle, I was shooting hoops outside at home, when I decided to be stupid and try to dunk the ball. I dunked it, but when I came down, I landed with my left foot side ways on the curb. It didn’t hurt until, of course, I tried to walk on it. I just fell to the ground and a single tear rolled down my cheek. I was going to the doctor for a bad cough and I limped in. They looked at me and told me to get a wheel chair. I got x-rays again, but no break. The doctor just felt it. Of course, the doctor looked at me and said, “You have a type two sprain.”

I said, “I don’t care.” I got up and tried to walk. The doctor stopped me and gave me a brace.

That was the turning point for me .That’s when I decided – no more injuries.

I have successfully made it through track and part of baseball without injuries. My track team took second in districts. I am a team leader on my baseball team.

I have learned that by deciding to stick to it and not giving up you can always get back to the top.