Limitations

“Limitations”

What comes to mind when you think of the word limitations? Many things popped into my mind, as I’m sure did yours. I had a limitation put on my life a little more than two and a half years ago, and it continues to affect my perspective on life.

Almost 3 years ago, during my freshman year of basketball, I had an injury I never would have expected. It was the fourth game of the season and my team was off to a great year. We are in a close, intense game, when suddenly I picked up my fourth foul. To my surprise, my coach didn’t take me out, so I kept playing hard. I had a steal and was zooming down the court, when I pulled up fast for a short shot. I turned my tired knees sideways, without moving my body and jumped up high. I immediately fell to the floor and couldn’t move. I felt as if m leg was a limp noodle. The next thing I knew, people rushed on the court and were carrying me off. A friend’s dad, who was a doctor, checked my knee out. He said I just strained a muscle and that my ACL is still in place. That was a giant relief to me. But unfortunately he was incorrect. At the doctors’ office a few days later, I got the worst news possible. I had torn my ACL almost completely and I would have to undergo surgery if I ever wanted to play sports again. That was the day I felt as if my life was over. Sports have always come easy for me and been a major portion of my life. I can’t imagine not playing sports. I am a 3-sport athlete and was at one time, a 4-sport athlete. Basketball has been my favorite sport since I was born it seems like. It was almost a gift given to me to play basketball since I picked it up relatively fast for my young age. I had been playing basketball many, many years prior to my freshman year and I always thought, “no severe injury will ever happen to me, it only happens to other people” but low and behold I got a reality check. It wasn’t those “other people” anymore, it was me. My freshman year sports career was destroyed. No more basketball games to sweat in, no more sprints up and down the court, no more doing what I love. It was the worst thing that has happened to me in my lifetime thus far.

Thankfully, my surgery went well. My friends were there to see me with my gian bandaged up leg and to wish me well. It was great to see them that night after my surgery because we had an away game earlier that night and they all came to the hospital to see me right after it and to tell me all the good and bad things they did during the game. The best part was hearing all of them tell how different it was not having me there to warm-up with, to give high fives to and of course play the game. It really made me feel extra special knowing how much my team missed me, but they have no idea how much I missed them and just playing the game. It would be six months before I would be able to get the okay from the doctor to play sports again.

Those six months felt like years to me. It was hard, no doubt, but it was even harder to be strong. I had to be strong both physically and mentally and it was a long road, but it has taught me things about myself I didn’t know. Being confident within myself was something I really realized. I had to be confident that I could recover from this, and that I’d have to work extra hard to get back