Personal Narrative: A Hip Injury

596 Words2 Pages

Bronchitis. A hip injury. A torn PCL. These are the physical challenges that set back my track career. Of course, I persevered and trained harder to overcome these obstacles, but that is not the point. Anyone can recover from an injury, but not everyone can recover from adversity. The real challenge throughout high school was having to stand up to my coach. He is an older man who puts winning over the health of his athletes. During my freshman year I contracted bronchitis, and tragically, I was out for the rest of the season. I made my peace with the situation, but my coach wanted me to keep running because he needed another runner to compete in relays. He berated my parents and me with emails demanding to know when I was coming back as if …show more content…

Once I recovered I swore to myself I would no longer be bullied by this person. When the next track season began I stood up for myself. I told him that I can not run in every meet this season. He listened to my demands and I felt triumphant. Sadly, this feeling went away at the beginning of the following outdoor season. This time the coach refused to listen to me when I told him I could not run in every meet. I was adamant that if I ran in all of his meets I would be injured and that my dreams of becoming a Division 1 track and field athlete would never become a reality. We eventually reached a compromise, but unfortunately, the compromise was not enough. I pulled a hamstring while running and I fell. If I had just pulled my hamstring I would have been fine, but I had torn my PCL during the fall. The tear caused me to leave another season unfinished. I was broken. I had run track since the first grade and had always wanted to use my success to attend a top-tier school. I have been hugely successful in school, but the success I achieved in track set me apart from everyone

Open Document