In the first half, time winded down and the other team ran one more play. That last play changed everything. I dove to try and make a tackle and stop the person with the ball from scoring. At first, everything felt normal, but I landed on my left shoulder and knew something was off. A few minutes later I was in a ton of pain. Going to my car, I made stops because my stomach was in knots. I was experiencing more pain than I had ever felt in my life. We got to the emergency room and while I was laying in the bed my mind was racing through all the ways my life could change and how it could be ruined. I thought to myself “I have never broken a bone in all 12 years of my life, I will be fine.” I then went into the room and they took the x-ray and there was a clear break through my left collarbone. Then, there I was, laying in the hospital bed after I found out the news, and wondering what my life would be like. Tears eventually trickled down my face at the thought of not being able to play anymore. The sadness was overwhelming. I didn’t know what was ahead of me and if things were going to change for the good.

I had to stand on the sidelines for the rest of that season and watch my team play. It was rough, being there in the cold and knowing I couldn’t play. It took a long time to heal and I had about 3 months where I couldn’t do anything. It was the longest 3 months ever. I never knew when I would be out of the sling and back to normal, the doctors would just want to see me again in a couple weeks. At some point in the recovery process, I learned that if a broken collarbone doesn’t heal right, they have to rebreak it and I would have to go through it all again. Knowing that just put butterflies in my stomach. I would think about that way too much and it made me nervous. The thought of not being able to play football again in the future haunted me because I didn’t know if broken collarbones were going to cause me to not be able to play. That made me feel anxious and also made me want to be able to play sports again.

Eventually, basketball season came around and I wasn’t cleared yet. I knew I couldn’t play, which made me downhearted. I got cleared to do sports in January so it was too late for basketball. I decided that I would try going to weightlifting in the mornings to try and get stronger for other sports. The first year or so was hard because I had never done anything like it before. I was embarrassed because I could barely lift anything. Going to weights in 6th grade was one of my best choices. Throughout the next couple of years, I started doing meets. It was fun but I would go against people a few years older than me because I was on JV with them. I never got to win any meets because of that and that made me work harder in the weight room. I was there in the winter, summer, and spring trying to build up and get better. It helped in all sports tremendously and once I started noticing my blocking was better in football and I could throw harder in baseball it made me feel great. This made me realize that a lot of things happen for a reason and this is an example of that.

I have come a long way in weight lifting too. I went from getting 7th or 8th place out of 10, to going to nationals in the summer of 2023. They were held in Colorado Springs and I had a great time. We were in the city for lifting but also sightseeing in the mountains, old towns, and more. We traveled to a remote town in the mountains and had an Airbnb for a few days. It was one of my favorite vacations. This year, I got 2nd place in the first two meets and 1st in the last three. In the last meet, I qualified for state. I had never lifted in state before, I had just watched and admired. It made me feel like I had to compete harder than ever before and try to get first place. Everything turned out and I ended up getting 1st place in the state. It made me very happy and excited. I went from getting next to last place in meets, to first place in state. It was one of my best accomplishments and I am still proud today.

At the end of the day, life can change extremely fast. There are so many ways it can change and it’s always unexpected. It’s like walking down the street. Knowing what might be ahead or who's around the corner is impossible. Life might change for the better or the worse, and there are different ways to handle it. Just like the time I heard my coach say “It’s not what happens to you that matters, it is how you react to it.” One of the best ways is to ride it out and see what happens. That is what I did when I broke my collarbone and it was life-changing. At the start of my recovery, I thought my life would be ruined for good. In the end, my life was changed forever, but not in a bad way. Though it will never be like it was before, it was for the better.