Autobiographical Narrative: Rough Draft
There I was on the ground holding my leg. My hamstring had popped. I was in the middle of playing a soccer game against Utah Force, and the score was 0-0. I was playing outside back for my club team Utah Avalanche. At the time I was sixteen years old. I had never been seriously injured before; I was in so much pain.
Right before this happened; I remember I had just said to my teammate, “Jackie, my leg is so tight I can hardly even kick the ball”. Jackie plays right next to me as center back. She is also one of my best friends; we work really well together on the field. Because I play high school soccer, I end up having players on the opposite club team that I know. This makes it that much more of a competitive game. My job on the field as an outside back is to not only just defend, but also to get involved offensively. This means that a lot of the time when the ball gets played to me I will dribble it up the field, and then either take a shot, cross, or pass.
After I told Jackie that my hamstring was super tight, the ball got played to me. I dribbled it up the line and right as I reached for the ball, I felt a huge pop. It was horrible. I dropped to the ground. Even now after such injuries as getting kicked in the face and tearing my ACL, I am going to have to say that tearing my hamstring was the most painful of all. I was freaking out. In my head I had no idea what had just happened, I was so scared because of the huge pop. After I calmed down a little bit, my coach carried me off of the field. I ended up leaving the game early because my parents decided it would be best to get immediate ice on it. I knew something serious was wrong because the amount of pain that I was in. My Dad has torn his hamstring before, so he had an idea of what had happened. Soccer is such a huge part of my life, my heart was broken.
The next morning I went to the doctor. He told me that he could feel where my hamstring was torn in my left leg. He said I would be out close to six weeks. I went through a lot of therapy, and a lot of sitting around and watching. Being hurt is very tough mentally. The hardest thing to do is to sit and watch your team work so hard, and play without you. You just want to be out there…No matter how hard it is.
Finally state cup, a tournament to decide the best team in the state for each age group, comes around. My team played around four games in the tournament without me. My doctor cleared me to try playing a little in one of the games to see how it felt. My coach put me in for about the last ten minutes of the game in bracket play. My hamstring felt really good, and I was so excited. My team was also very excited along with my coach. It felt so good to finally play the game again. The next game was the quarterfinal game, and my coach put me in again. I got the ball and started dribbling once again down line. I heard and felt another pop. This one not being as painful, I slowly jogged off of the field. I was very sad and hurt again. I found out that I had another tear (not a complete tear) up higher in my hamstring. I felt defeated. This time I decide to work the whole summer getting my hamstring better and stronger than ever, before I try playing soccer again. I did everything that I possibly could to get back to normal. By the time high school season came around, I felt very good about things. I couldn’t wait to get started with the team. I played for about two months of Alta High School soccer and then ended up tweaking it again. This happened in the Brighton game. I took about two weeks off and ended up being able to play a little in the semifinals and the finals. Alta ended up winning State. I was happy but unfulfilled.
Ever since then I have been doing weight training and therapy for my hamstrings. It is something that I am always going to have to work on. They feel stronger than they ever have. Tearing my hamstring and going through this experience has definitely been a positive in my life. I have found out how much I love soccer, and how hard I am willing to work to get to where I want and need to be. I ended up playing better than ever, once I recovered fully from this injury. I was able to play a full game. This was in San Diego at Surf Cup, another tournament with my club team. This is where I was looked at the most by college coaches, and probably where the school that I am now committed to started looking at me. Every game that I have played in since this injury, I have put one-hundred percent heart and effort into. Learning to have passion and love for the game of soccer did impact the way that I play. It makes me want to play better.
Now that I am hurt again with a torn ACL, I really know how badly that I want to be playing again. If this injury were to have happened about a year ago, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to try and come back from it. Now, I don’t think I could ever give up soccer. I am going to work so hard, and do everything that I am told. I know that I am going to come back stronger than ever. I feel the way that I do today because of the hamstring injury that I went through before. That injury changed my life because it made me a better player mentally and physically. Like I said before, I am going to get through my injury today because of the confidence and assurance I have gained from my previous injury.