Sophomore Football

Our world is filled with challenges. Whether it be emotional, physical, mental, or any other kind of challenge, everyone has experienced some sort of challenge at one point or another. Unfortunately, this is part of being alive. Personally, the biggest challenge I have ever been faced with was dealing with extremely painful injuries during my sophomore football season. Football is an extremely important part of my life. My sophomore year, as well as every other year, I came into the season with the greatest possible feeling of excitement. It was my first year of playing varsity, and I was convinced that it was going to be the team’s year to shine. The first game of the year went great, as I had a blast playing with the other guys on the team.
When I went to the doctor’s office after the Spirit Lake game, the doctors told me that I had a separated my shoulder and would miss two weeks to let it heal. This news felt like a punch in the gut. I had worked so hard all year, and now I wouldn’t get to play in two games. Trying to stay positive, I did everything the doctors and physical therapists said to try and heal the injury. Slowly but surely, I regained movement in my shoulder. Unfortunately, the pain did not go away. Nevertheless, I was eventually cleared to play, and my excitement to play encouraged me to push through the pain. From this point on, ice and Ibuprofen would be my best friend.
The week I came back, I felt a broad range of feelings. I was excited to be back, but I was also scared that I wouldn’t be able to do my job on the field. Also, my shoulder hurt like crazy. It seemed like every time I made contact with someone, it was pulling apart again. We lost that game, but I played okay. The very next week, my list of injuries would be
Their offensive and defensive line was big and physical, and was likely the best in our district. This game was a pivotal point in our season, so we were all very excited. As soon as the game started, we found out that they were the better team, and it wasn’t even close. This was extremely surprising and disappointing to us. About halfway through the second quarter, the biggest Clarion player stepped on my left foot. His cleats dug in, and it felt like my entire foot was being crushed. At the same time, our running back ran into the back of me. This caused me to fall to the ground, and the large mass of a human was still standing on my foot. Pain throbbed through my entire lower leg, and even worse, I could barely put any weight on it. It hurt really bad, but not quite as bad as the feeling of being hurt again. My shoulder was hurt, my foot was hurt, and my spirits were most definitely hurt. It would have been easy to quit. I could have let my body heal up and sit on the sidelines, but that’s not what I wanted. Right then, I pledged that I would not sit out any more games that