Volleyball...

Today, I thought I'd write about one of my passions: volleyball. I love volleyball, and how competitive it makes me. I also sometimes dislike how competitive it makes me. I had the opportunity to play volleyball in high school, and I loved almost every minute of it. The only time I didn't love it was when I made a mistake, or we lost a game we should've won. Besides that, I absolutely loved it. I have so many memories from volleyball, from being All-State to making life-long friends. One of my favorite memories is actually an event that took some time to progress. My Senior year of high school I was at the top of my game. I was playing extremely well, and getting recognition for it from my coach and other teams' coaches. I felt great.

One day I was scrimagging with my team and I went up to block. While I was in the air one of my teammates came under the net, so when I came down I landed on her foot and my ankle had completely inverted. I immediately thought that I had broken it because I heard a very distinct snap. My teammates and coach helped me to the side of the court where I laid there with my leg elevated and ice wrapped around my ankle. At this point I actually started to cry. Not because of the pain, but because the reality of this event had finally hit me. I realized that if my ankle was injured badly enough that I would most likely be in a cast for the next 2 months. Just long enough to keep me out until the season was over. I was devastated. Actually, devastated might even be a bit of an understatement. Anyway, that night I went to the emergency room., and the doctor on staff took an X-ray. He examined it and told me that my ankle wasn't broken, but I had torn some ligaments. He then told me that I would be able to start working back into volleyball after a week, and should be able to play in a game in 2 weeks. I was ecstatic.

I waited a week, doing everything the doctor told me to, and then I started doing physical therapy and trying to run in practice. I was in a lot of pain, but this is something that was worth it to me to work through the pain, so I did. Two weeks passed since I had been injured, and I was planning on playing in the game the following day. When I got home from practice my mom told me that the Radiologist at the hospital had found a break in my ankle bone, and told her my doctor had been informed and expected to see me the following day to put a cast on. I was upset, but determined not to let this affect my season.

The next day I went to the doctor, told him I would not wear a cast and planned to finish out the season. He explained all of the risks I would be taking and what affects this would have on me in the future, and I explained that this was something I had to do. I don't know how I did it, but I got out of that office without a cast, and just a boot. My doctor told me to wear it whenever I wasn't playing volleyball. Anyway, to make a long story short, I worked through the pain, and I got to finish out my season. It was awesome, and I got All-State recognition for it. One of the worst possible things had happened to me, and it turned out to be a blessing and a lesson. It taught me that nothing that's worth having in life is easy to get. I don't think I would've realized what a blessing it was to be able to play volleyball with my team, and that working through the pain was worth it. Throughout all of this I had support from my family and friends, and I grew up a little as well. Even though I never want to go through that again, I am grateful it happened.