Personal Narrative: My Freshman Year Of High School

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My freshman year of high school I felt like I did not fit in anywhere, I felt like I was not good at anything, and I felt like I did not matter. I woke up everyday and I struggled to get out of bed, I hated school, I hated going to practice, I hated the people around me, and mostly- I hated myself. My freshman year of high school I developed situational depression and multiple forms of anxiety. The winter of my freshman year was the lowest I have ever been in my life, I was spiraling into a hole of self-destruction. During the spring of my freshman year I was recruited into the student athletic training program… and it saved my life. The head athletic trainer, Maria Hutsick, gave me somewhere to feel at home, she gave me a family so to speak, …show more content…

As a freshman I had regular clients and I was taping six to ten ankles a day. I was getting so much experience and I was getting so much happiness out of this. Athletic training began to give me back a sense of self and was a self validation that I was needed somewhere by someone. The athlete that was my first ‘official’ project was a lacrosse player named John MacLean. John was a junior, committed to BU for lacrosse, with a strained hamstring. Everyday he would come in and get heat, then I would either do a deep tissue massage or Graston. Then I would stretch him out and he would hop on the bike. After he was warm I would bring him through his physical therapy regimen. We had this routine everyday for two and a half months.
After spending so much time together John and I developed that special athletic trainer and athlete bond. This bond is one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. It is honestly like being a mom. I grew to have this bond with a majority of the guys on the football and lacrosse teams. Some of them even call me mom on a daily basis. To them I am a person of comfort and assurance, I am a confident, and I am the person who they know will help them get better. For me they are my kids, they are not just athletes we number and organize into ‘cases’ or faces attached to rehab programs. I do what I do because I want to help athletes do what they do. I want to help athletes succeed at their

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