This was the year that I was going to beat the sophomore rushing yard record and lead my team to win the conference. The summer couldn’t have gone any better and I was so pumped for the season to start. Our team was winning the 7on7 tournaments all throughout July and everyone was working hard. I knew that this was going to be my best year yet.

When school started, we had two weeks till we played Montini. They were big and we were small, but that was every year so it didn’t really matter to us. We prepared all summer for this game and we were ready.
When gameday came around I couldn’t even focus in class because I was so concentrated on playing Montini later that day.

Warming up for the game around 4:00 was the usual routine for the sophomores so that’s what we did. Then it was game time. We got the ball first and the first play was a handoff to me. I rushed for 70 yards and scored a touchdown in the first half of the game.

After half time, we were ready to go again.

It was only a couple minutes into the third quarter when the thing I feared most happened. I was running the ball on a sweep and I cut up field because I saw an opening, but I got stopped at the line. I kept driving forward to gain a couple more yards until my right leg got piled up on. I screamed and tried to pull my foot out in time but it was too late. I heard 2 cracks and I hit the ground. I knew my leg was broken right there.

As I was laying on the ground I lifted up my leg and when I saw my foot dangling I knew that was going to be the end of my season.

I had to go to the hospital right away. The told me it was broken, but of course I already knew that. The next thing they did was numb my leg and they had to pop it back in place. I could still feel everything and the pain was so bad.

I knew it was going to be a long time till recovery, but when I went to the doctor he told me I had to get surgery and be on crutches for 3 months. That was the worst part of it. There were no other options.

I knew I couldn’t do anything about my leg so I started working out my upper body for a couple months straight.
If I never got injured my sophomore year, I don’t think I would’ve been working as hard as I am right now. Even though the injury was bad, I like to think that something good came out of it.

Out of all of this, I learned that nothing is a for sure thing and you never know how fast something can happen. I’ve moved past my injury, but I will think about it sometimes and use it as motivation to work harder and push myself more in the things that I do.