Personal Narrative: Fractured Femur Playing Basketball

Basketball was my life. In my first home game of my Sophomore year, on the Varsity team, I was voted the game MVP. But it was during the game, when I jumped up to catch a loose ball, and came down, that I landed wrong and fell on my knee. After the game, my mom drove me straight to the ER, and the doctor told me that my ACL was torn and my MCL was fractured. I went through a very painful surgery, and six months of physical therapy.

There was only 2 minutes until game time. My ankle was throbbing. My stomach was churning. I could hardly stand. There was no way I could walk to my position, much less play 25 points of constant jumping and moving around.

What True Grit Is Grit is courage and resolve; strength in your character. I believe I showed grit during our fall soccer league. We were playing Delhi’s, high school, seniors. I happened to be playing Left defender.

Sophomore year I was playing at a soccer tournament with my old team. I was playing a great game even though the score was not reflecting my hard work. Towards the end of the game I jumped up caught the ball landed, my body went one way and my legs went the other, then I fell to the ground. Everyone around me had heard a pop, I knew it was my ACL. From this moment in my soccer career I knew I needed to be determined and to be focused on my recovery in order to get back out there.

Personal Narrative My freshman year of high school, during basketball season, I injured my knee while playing in a home game versus Paola. I ended up tearing my acl and meniscus in my right knee, resulting in a surgery and a lot of therapy. I loved playing basketball and it was my favorite sport, but ever since I injured myself I haven’t felt the same way about the sport.

When I was twelve I popped my kneecap off during soccer. Just before Thanksgiving, 2015 I had surgery to repair that injury. A tendon from a donor cadaver was added to my kneecap to hold it place, a spare part. However the surgery is not the story; the story is the three prior years that I played through pain, failure, disappointment and above all, the unknown. Those three years of denial took from me some of my youth; of being irresponsible, of not having a routine night of bandages and therapy; and the ease and indulgence of adolescence that only comes once.

The first time I had a serious injury On April 2nd, 2016 I was on my way to a football 7 on 7 matchup. As I was on my way I was excited to be playing and I was mentally getting ready on what I was gonna do and that I'm gonna show out. Once we arrived to wood grove I'm only way to pickup our helmets and our jerseys and after we all get together and start heading up to the field to warm up.

In a way, tennis is a metaphor for life. It requires motivation and passion. A match is a battle, where the best show not only strength and poise, but intelligence, sportsmanship, and resolve. The Edwardsville tennis program has taught me so much about striving for excellence and the pay off of hard work.

The day I found out I made the Banners team was the day my lifestyle changed. I now practice four hours a day on weekdays and six hours on the weekends. I am never home and when I am you can find me in my room finishing homework or trying to catch up on rest. In the beginning ,I felt overwhelmed and frustrated. I even considered quitting because of how physically exhausted I was.

Although I have had many injuries growing up, there is one that particularly changed my life for the better. The injury occurred when I was playing eighth grade football. It was August and we were scrimmaging Westfield; a very good team that had a lot of big players. The coach called me onto the field to play fullback, which means that I was probably going to carry the football. As I was running onto the field my heart started to beat a little faster.