I was sitting in my blue corolla in the parking lot of a Kroger. It was the typical day. I was waiting for my mom to finish her grocery shopping of a few items that she said would only take ten minutes. I sat there for 45. I saw a man wearing a sling for his shoulder walk out of the store with a very glum look to his face. He was struggling carrying his groceries and not a single person offered help as we walked through the parking lot. This hit me very hard…

I was always a healthy kid. Never broke a bone or had a dislocation or anything. It was a cold, cold day. December 31st was the date, yes that’s right, New Years Eve. There was a big party planned for the night. All the basketball team was going, but of course Coach Cellars schedules a practice bright and early in the morning. Everybody loves Coach Cellars because he is young and funny, but he also has very high expectations especially when it comes to work ethic. We were doing his favorite drill, a loose ball drill. He would roll a ball up the quart and two people would dive on the ground for it. Whoever won this battle would pass it to his teammate. Both of the guys who dove would then stand up and play 2 vs. 2. Coach loved this drill because it was high energy, and he loved seeing his players work hard and get angry. Whoever was scored on had to do pushups.

I was beat to the ball and then scored on so my teammate and I did pushups. On my very last one, my left arm slipped forward on my way down. All my weight came down on my left side, and I felt something very different and very uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure what happened all I knew was that it hurt. And it hurt bad. I felt like somebody was taking a lighter to my shoulder. Coach Cellars walked over along with a varsity coach, Coach Edwards. The look on both of their faces when they got there was indescribable. It was like they had seen a monkey driving a car. They didn’t know what to say. All they said was, “Don’t move.” I could now tell my shoulder was out of socket. Neither of them knew how to put it back in. Coach Edwards really reassured me by saying, “I could google how to put it back in.” Finally, they got a hold of trainer Mike.

When Mike got there he began tugging at my shoulder immediately. I felt him roll my shoulder over the bone and back into the socket. Shockingly, it felt amazing. The relief on my shoulder when it was back in place felt so good. I walked into Mike’s office and he called my dad to come in. He explained to my dad what happened and said that he was worried that I tore my labrum. That is the cartilage that surrounds your shoulder and keeps it in place. I had to get an MRI and Mike was correct. They told me I could go through therapy for two months and see if it helped or have surgery and be out for six months. Me being my ambitious self, I of course chose to not have therapy so I could play baseball.

This was a bad decision the two months seemed like two years but at least it wasn’t six. I made it through all of baseball season and was feeling great. In the last week of baseball we had practice indoors. I was hitting in the cage when I swung and felt a pain in my shoulder. I figured it was nothing, maybe just a dinger from swinging weird. The next game I was at the plate and took a big swing. Out comes my shoulder again. I dropped immediately on the plate. This time was not as bad as the last time though. I felt less pain. So what did I do? I continued playing. The next three days it continued to pop out. Each time I felt more pain. We were playing Glen este and I was hitting in the two hole. My first at bat I hit a little dinker between short stop and third base. My second at bat I hit an RBI line drive to center field but on my swing my shoulder came out again. I ran to first base in a lot of pain. But I was playing so well. Glen Este made a pitching change and they put in a friend of mine whom which I have played with for a few years in the summer. This was perfect because I knew all his pitches and how he liked to pitch. First pitch he threw me was a fastball right down the middle about belt high. I took one mighty swing for the fence and dropped on home plate screaming in agony.

We got Mike again and he said this meant I’d have to have surgery. So I visited the doctor again and they confirmed my surgery and said I’d be out for six months. I had to be in a sling for about 8 weeks. I was very fortunate to have people around who would help me and make sure I got everything I needed. There’s no way I could have been alright without the help of family and friends.

The man reached my car so I pulled the keys out. I offered the man some help. Never have I seen such a happy guy in my life. I grabbed his groceries and took them to his car. The man shook my hand with a huge smile and said, “Thank you very much. I haven’t gotten any help since I’ve been in this thing.” This really made me realize how lucky I was.