Having an injury and being out from your sport can be one of the hardest things to deal with in life. Especially to a dedicated athlete. All the work and preparation put in in the offseason by the athlete will be used to sit out and watch his teammates compete. Being injured is a difficult journey and is physically and mentally tough to heal from.


An injury can happen in a split second, but the recovery time can be the whole season or longer. This year I spent summer, winter, and fall preparing for spring track. I started of the season on a good note getting a personal best in pole vault. But after the second meet of the year I just wasn't the same. My hip-flexor had been pulled during practice, making it hard to jump and get power from my right leg to vault. The injury had reached the point where I could no longer pole vault. Those months of preparation I had put in and the ability I had gained were still inside of me, but they would have to stay there as a could no longer perform. I was no stranger to this as I had fractured bones in my hand and had to sit out freshman year from wrestling.


Injuries can not only wreck seasons but ruin careers and lives. Several professional athletes had career ending injuries, such as Joe Theisman, Steve Young, and Sterling Sharpe. All of these athletes had the talent to play but no longer had the ability to. There injuries affected both their mental and physical health. Injuries are a part of sports, but it needs to be up to the athlete to know when its time to heal or give up the game for good.