What I Want to Be

It seems like everything in my life has something to do with soccer. I don't know if I will every get away from the sport but it has helped me grow so much as a person. Not only have I made many life long best friends, but I have also learned how to interact with people I don't necessarily agree with, and I have learned to work as a group to achieve a common goal, to succeed! I never realized how many aspects of my life revolve around soccer, but when I was thinking of something to write about, I thought about how I decided what I want to be professionally. Amazingly, I did not want to be a professional soccer player, but through playing soccer, I did find a profession that fits me perfectly.

The spring of my freshman year of high school our soccer team, Fusion, traveled to Lexington, Kentucky for a big soccer tournament. I remember that it was extremely hot, especially because we were playing on turf fields. The black tires in the turf made your feet feel like they were burning, and there was steam streaming off the field. It was the first time that we had really played a tournament on turf fields and I specifically remember my coach asking me if I liked playing on grass or turf better. My answer was that I like grass better because it seemed like more people got injuried playing on turf.

So, the tournament continues, and we continue to win. Finally, on sunday the championship game rolls around and we were going to get to play our first game on the grass field!! We were all so excited because our team was much more used to playing on grass, to people who don't play soccer, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but playing on grass or turf really does make a difference. We were going to play a team from Georgia for the Championship game and we were all excited and pumped up!

After the first ten minutes of the game, we knew it was going to be a battle! As the whistle blew for halftime, we all went running into a huddle to talk about what had to be done differently. The scored was tied 0-0 and we had 45 min left to play.

About ten minutes into the second half, I went to clear the ball out of our end when a girl took a cheap shot at my right leg. As I fell to the ground, my teammates ran around me to make sure I was okay, but I wasn't moving much. My coach then came running out and carried me off the field because I could not walk. I sat on the bench the rest of the game in pain, cheering on our team to victory. We ended up winning the game 1-0.

After the game, my coach and another dad carried me to the award ceremony where we recieved trophies. Once the award ceremony was over, Terry, pretty much my second mom, called my mom to tell her that I had hurt my leg pretty bad. The trainer was unsure if I tore my achilles tendon or broke my shin. Terry said she would take me to the hospital in Lexington, but I just wanted to go home and go to my doctor when I got home.

So we drove three hours home, and waited for my mom to come pick me up from Terry's house. Once she got there, I just wanted to go home, so I went to the doctor the next day, Monday. It turns out I broke my shin all the way through so I would be in a cast for quite some time, 12 weeks to be exact. It was a very long recovery process, but throughout the whole process, I stayed positive making it go by quickly.

When I stepped back on the field for the first time after getting hurt, I knew that I wanted to be a Physical Therapist. With out a Physical Therapist, it would not be here today playing Division 1 soccer. Being a Physical Therapist is such a rewarding job, and you get to help so many people get back to the things they enjoy most.

Although breaking my shin was not a fun thing, it helped me decide a huge decision in my life, what I wanted to be.