Take the Hit

Take the Hit

My whole life flashed before my eyes as a lay on the field screaming in pain. I didn’t know what had happened I just knew it wasn’t good. As I lay there aching in pain and hyperventilating with the overload of tears, I remember seeing four different faces over my head. The Muscatine trainer was holding my head and neck still, Coach Arp was repetitively telling me to breathe, Coach McKnight was saying god knows what in his Scottish accent, and Coach Hutch was looking at me with shock. I couldn’t tell anyone what happened I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to finish the game.

It seemed like hours that I had been lying on the field and now I finally understood what Coach McKnight was saying to me he kept asking me if it was okay to bring my parents onto the field. If you have ever watched a soccer game before, parents do not go on the field, so this was the scariest point for me. I replied no, I don’t want them here. And we argued for a couple minutes, he told me it was the right thing to do. As my mom and dad walk to add another face above my head, panic had set in.

I began to shake uncontrollable and the tears became unbelievable. It was like something else had taken over my body. I hear my teammates in the huddle only 10 feet away from me asking Coach Hutch if I was paralyzed so I quickly wiggle my toes, with a sign of relief my heart rate slows and I begin to control my breathing.

I had now calmed down, but I am still lying on the field freezing, shaking, and crying when the ambulance drove onto the field. This set in another round of anxiety and panic and I could feel my heart rate increase as the strapped me into a neck brace and onto the stretcher. This is all very blurry to me now in my memory. I ended up spending about two hours in the hospital that night and my stay consisted of blood pressure tests, urine tests, shots of morphine, and a CT scan. All my tests came back negative for anything serious such as broken bones or any off set disks which was a sign of relief. It came out that I pulled just about every muscle in my neck and got a minor concussion and will be sitting out for about a week. Although this isn’t ideal, it’s a lot better than it could be.

My unfortunate accident just reminds me how dangerous soccer can really be, but it doesn’t matter to me. I have had many people this week ask me if I’m now scared to go into tackles. But i'm not, I know that you can get hurt in soccer I have been hurt before it’s just part of the game. In competitive contact sports people are going to get hurt it just happens. I think it’s hard for some people to understand that some athletes are okay getting hurt. But it’s a price you have to be willing to pay in order to be a competitor. 

(540 words)