An athlete's career can be changed, and even ended, in only a matter of seconds. If you ask an athlete what’s their most feared injury is, many will answer with ACL tear. ACL tears are feared because they can happen from both contact and noncontact sports. Also, an ACL tear requires a minimum of around 7 months before you can go back to your sport. But for most athletes, they never comeback to be the same player they once were.

Football was going great for me. My junior season had just ended and I was receiving many All-Conference and All-State awards for my performance. I had my whole off-season calendar booked with college camps and visits. My goal for the off-season was to get a scholarship and commit to a college before I had even started my senior season next fall. My life was at a high point. But my whole world was flipped upside down on me in one brief moment.
 

Although the rugby season isn’t until spring, there was a new winter rugby league where you paid money and basically for 10 weeks, on saturdays,  players went to the Legacy Center in Brighton and just played pick-up rugby.  Since, I was bored not doing anything competitive for the past 3 weeks, and football had ended, I asked around to see if my teammates were doing it, they were of course.

The first saturday of winter rugby had arrived and I was more than ready to do something active and competitive. I knew that there was going to be a lot of rookie rugby players there so I knew that it was going to be easy and fun scrimmage. It was a bitter, cold and dry winter day. Noticed my windows needed some defrosting I as I got into my car. I was heading to my friend Tristin’s house because he needed a lift to practice. We talked the whole trip there about how easy it was going to be playing against a bunch of rugby rookies.
Once we showed up to the Legacy Center I was first surprised by the fact that it was so big. It was a white dome with a rounded top and the entire ground was bright green turf. It was a facility that had enough room to play any sport you wanted inside of it.

All the kids arrived and the coaches quickly split us into four different teams. My team was filled with really short and fast kids, I knew I would have to do all the tackling. We did a short warm up then got right into the game. “Game on” the referee yells before the ball is kicked off.

As my teammate snags the ball out of the air he quickly looks to get rid of it.  I realize that he’s pressured by defenders so I make myself open, put my hands up, and yell “Here Here here!” He feeds me the ball as I make my break for the score line. I slip between two defenders. I had one defender to get by before I scored now. I try and fake my defender by acting to go left, then putting all my force onto my left leg and changing my direction back to the right. Right as I put that force onto my left leg, my knee makes a loud pop. I go down before the defender even tries to tackle me and I instantly know something is wrong.  A harsh, piercing pain came to my knee. I could feel my knee swelling and changing color. After spitting out curse word after curse word, my coach came running over.

“What is the problem and where is the pain coming from?” Coach Doug asked me.

“It’s the knee Doug.  He tried to juke and it made a loud pop,” my friend Tristin told him as he rushed over.

“Can you stand?” Coach Doug asks.

My teammates helped me up and I tried to walk down the sideline. I had a strong limp and it was very painful to put weight on my left leg.

I hobbled straight outside and hopped into my car. My knee was to swollen to bend so it took me about 2 minutes to force my left leg into my small car. I finally started my 35 minute drive home. This drive, to this day, is the worst drive I have ever had. Being alone and in shock from all the pain, the drive felt like an hour.

We sat in the hospital waiting for the doctor to come in and tell me the result from the MRI. My Dad and I were praying for him to say it was anything but the ACL. My heart was pounding and I was nervous. The Doctor came in with the results.

“I’m sad to say, but the MRI shows that you have an ACL tear,” the doctor told us in a sorrow voice.

“Well, when’s the soonest we can have surgery?” my dad asked.

“You will have to come back in a month from now to make sure the swelling is down, and we can discuss surgery from there.” my doctor said.

At that moment my life was changed forever. My future plans of going to college camps and visits, transformed to having rehab 3 times a week for the next 7 months and a slim chance I’ll even be able to play my full senior football season. At first I was frustrated and sad about what had just happened to me ; however, I chose to change my attitude. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to take on the challenge with full commitment. I had a goal of playing college football and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from achieving that goal.