A wise man, Michael Jordan once said, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” This personal experience I have faced has shaped me into the person I am today. From playing Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball to a life-changing injury; a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Everyone faces challenges in their everyday lives. Once you realize you can do anything you put your mind to, overcoming obstacles will become much unchallenging. Last summer, while defending an opponent during a basketball game. I heard a loud popping sound from my right knee. The excruciating pain from the right knee was unbearable. I fell to …show more content…
We traveled from Killeen, Texas, to the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) for a basketball tournament. We were extremely excited because there was going to be recruiters and the UTSA basketball coach there. We were also a bit nervous because we were playing teams from different states and different parts of Texas. As soon as we started stretching, the referees called for our captains. It suddenly hit me: The referees were calling me; I was the captain! After the game started, we were very fatigued, and we didn’t feel as if we had stretched at all. We lost the first game and were on to the second one; this is where my injury took place. I planted my feet, and as I turned one direction, my knee went the opposite. No one touched me. I didn’t do anything bizarre; I just fell. It is crazy to think that tearing a ligament could keep me from playing the game I love for a year. I remember crying because of the pain and because I knew in my heart the season was over. Trying to convince myself otherwise, I thought positive. However, when my MRI results came back, there was no denying it; I had torn my ACL and my meniscus. The doctor stated, “For you to play again, you have to have immediate
I envision high school as an essential stepping stone for everyone. The era where every individual lacks the complete confidence in defining who they are or what they want to be. The four years of high school was the moment and opportunity to seek the interests that stood out to me the most. The experiences you make and the people you associate with are a crucial part of finding yourself.
In November of 2010, I was playing basketball in the fifth game of my senior season. It was just like any other game. However, I would soon find out otherwise. It was late in the game; I drove into the lane and got fouled hard. I was knocked so off-balance that I speared the floor with my knee. As soon as my knee hit the floor I heard a “snap” that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Little did I know at the time, that would be the last shot of my high school basketball career. Not long after my injury, I consulted a doctor. After getting an x-ray and an MRI, the doctor informed me that I had completely torn my ACL and would need to have surgery. An ACL tear can be a very devastating injury. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the four major ligaments within the knee. The ACL is one of the most commonly injured ligaments, injured by an estimated 200,000 patients each year. Of the 200,000 annual ACL injuries, surgery is performed in approximately 100,000 cases. There are many types of reconstructive surgery on the ACL. However, there is an alternative to surgery in the form of physical therapy.
Once I could bend my knee again, I started playing sports again. I took a break from basketball, but I kept up with softball and volleyball. My knee didn’t feel quite the same, but I thought that would pass. During my volleyball camp at Olivet Nazarene University, I was jumping up to block and when I landed my knee buckled and I knocked over my friend Christie. I could not believe this happened again! After I couldn’t get up, once again, the coach insisted that I go and see Ozzy, the trainer. He checked out my knee and thought I had torn my meniscus(the cartilage in the knee joint) and possibly had a small tear in my MCL(the inside tendon of the knee). He insisted that I go to O.A.K. Orthopedics (a health care office that includes 8 orthopedic surgeons) to see Dr. Ellis.
Being a college athlete is very tiring. College athletes have to endure a ton of things. From six AM practices, to midnight study sessions, being a college athlete is hard. To be a college athlete, the athlete has to be prepared to get used to getting little to no sleep. With early morning practices, class and then studying, with possibly a lifting session, a college athlete needs to be prepared to be pushed not only physically, but also mentally. To be a college athlete it takes a lot of mental toughness. A college athlete has to find it in them to do whatever it takes to study for all of their classes, meaning staying up until necessary, and then waking up the next morning to get up and practice. This is one of the hardest things for college athletes. Mental toughness is a whole other level when it involves sleep. Where one would say, “No. It is fine. I will just wing the test. I am too tired to study.” Or, “I will just study in the morning.” Athletes have to be prepared to break mental boundaries and drive themselves to success. They have to realize that other things are more important and that sleep will have to wait. Megan, a
I was born and raised in Southeast Texas in a suburb hidden amongst loblolly pines. My home is a master planned community conceived and developed with the goal of creating the ideal family and work environment for upper middle class American families. And indeed, families relocate here from around the world in job relocations to make their homes amongst the trees. It is a kid's utopia - a township based on family with extra emphasis placed on the needs and desires of its children. I am fortunate to have grown up in a kid orientated community with excellent schools and a nurturing family.
College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.
I’m tired of looking at the next person and wishing I was in their position. I’m tired of making excuses and pitying myself while letting opportunities slip away. From this moment onward, I am throwing away self doubt in order to take the coming steps in my life at Rutgers University. A Rutgers degree would not only mean a top tier education from one of the best schools in the world, more importantly, it would give me stability and a platform to go after my dreams. Through adversity and personal struggle after graduating high school in 2015, I have made an effort to never take opportunity lightly again. As a transfer student, It would be a humbling experience to learn new concepts and ideas while connecting with the diverse student
When I was in middle school I was considered weak, soft, and a person who needed attention. They would say these things despite my athleticism and determination to do the best in whatever I’d do. When I realized the only way to prove them wrong i turned to my athleticism and the only thing keeping me sane was my passion for poetry. I did this all in the hopes of making it into college.
I am not the most intelligent person at my high school. However, I am still in the top ten percent of all students at a 6A high school with over 700 students in the senior class. I am not an amazing athlete with great speed or a monstrous figure. Yet, I am still a varsity linebacker. I am not defined by heroism or greatness or as a prodigy of an obscure talent. I am defined by my commitment.
The initial recognition of my physical frailty occurred, while officiating a basketball game. After making an awkward turn on a fast break, the sound of a pop came from my right knee. Originally, doctors thought I tore my meniscus and part of my ACL and MCL. What an embarrassing way to do it. As a guy, my pride began to well up. I didn’t have this cool
At football practice on the Monday before the first round of the playoffs, I injured my knee during a drill. I was helping another player in my position group work on blocking, when I planted my right leg in an awkward position and went down. I immediately felt the pain of my kneecap being dislocated, and once it was back in place, I still couldn’t straighten my leg. The athletic trainer rushed over to me and calmed me down, then helped me up. I was able to walk from the field all the way to the training room in the field house without help, but was limping badly. I iced my knee and rested, then was taken home by my parents. The athletic trainer instructed me to rest, ice, and elevate my knee, and then the swelling should go down within a day or two and I would be fine to play again. After three days, my knee was still swollen to the size
The surgery was easy because I had good doctors and medication, but I was more mentally hurt. All the blood, seat, and time I spent on the offseason so I have one of the best seasons went down the drain. I was depressed; I just wanted to do was lie down in bed all day like an old man. I felt like there was no point; my grades wen down even though I was an honor student, I was in an all-time low, I could of died for all I cared. I needed something, because I was alive, but I was dead inside. But I found hope by my physical therapist who told me that there was a chance I could play again before the season was over. It was like I was risen from the dead because I was excited, he told my how hard it would be, but if I put in the work that there would be a chance. The next weeks, I worked harder than ever, there was no way that I wouldn’t play again that season-I was like a rat chasing cheese- I was willing to do anything to play again. There was time I was in pain, but I wouldn’t stop. As I got better I kept asking my therapist if I could play yet, he kept saying maybe next week. I kind of had given up on asking him, until one day after a session he looked me in the eyes and said I was
I look at all the data and realize that the facts support what I have been told all along. Only a small percentage of people make it as a Professional Athlete. There are few opportunities to make a real living as a full time runner. There just are not enough position to go around and only the best of the best have even a small hope. There are many other opportunities in the industry and I am okay with that. I would rather try my best and fail than to never take the first step in a race. Even if I don’t make it as a Professional Athlete, I think of all I will learn and can pass on as a coach to others. I realize the realistic expectation is that I will likely manage a lifestyle fitness business or coach a middle school or high school team. It will likely mean working part time to support my endeavor to be a professional runner. Part time coaching jobs are plentiful, sports retail jobs, though they are only expected to show a 2% growth over the next ten years have massive employee turnover, which means that those jobs are there for the taking. Being self-employed would allow me to do all of these things without sacrificing my dream to the drudgery of a more mundane vocation.
Obstacles are something that we all face in our lives. Whether it’s something small or huge. But it’s when we overcome them that we realize that we came out stronger than ever.
It was the start of summer 2002, and the Mid America Youth Basketball (MAYB) national tournament was taking place in Andover, Kansas. Along with the rest of the team, I was excited to play some basketball for the first time since the middle school basketball season was over. Our team, Carlon Oil, had been together and played every summer for the last four years. We were a really good team, with an overall record of 65-4 over those four years and were hoping to continue our legacy. Lonnie Lollar, our coach for the summer, was also the coach of our high school basketball team. I had a history of groin injuries, and every summer it seemed that I would have to sit out at least a game on the bench icing my groin. But this summer was different, and I along with everyone in the gym wouldn't have expected my summer to end with a injury such as a broken leg.