Ackerman 1

Kevin Ackerman

Mrs. Cramer

Comp Pd. 8

4 December 2018

Challenge Accepted

Everyone faces challenges in his or her life that one must overcome. I had to face a

challenge an athlete never wants to face, and it changed me forever. During my sophomore year

of high school, I was faced with an injury that would heavily impact the rest of my season. The

problem occurred in football practice when my knee popped out of socket and was dislocated.

This injury had a much bigger impact than I expected it to, sidelining me for the second

half of the football season. I had to go through extensive physical therapy for about two months

in an attempt to strengthen the muscles around my knee again. My hockey season was also

affected, which led me to be out for the first month of the season. This not only prevented me

from being able to play hockey, but to do everything that I enjoyed. Being able to play under the

lights on those crisp Friday nights, late in the season with my teammates, was a huge part of my

life. I loved playing with and being around the team, but having to stand on the sidelines and just

watch was almost as painful as the injury itself. To make it even worse, the injury carried over

into the winter, which sidelined me from hockey as well. Not being able to play hockey or be on

the ice with my teammates was just as difficult. This injury affected me most by not allowing me

to play with my teammates that I have created such great bonds with over the years.
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The biggest lesson that I was able to take away from this experience was to not give up,

but instead, to work even harder to get my knee into better shape. Just because my knee injury

sidelined me for two months did not mean I could stop working for the future and my dreams.

Injuring my knee made me realize that I needed to work even harder and I became a better

student. I noticed I needed to stay determined, and prepare myself better, as well as stop

procrastinating. As a result of this, my grades improved noticeably. During the rest of the

football season, even though I was sidelined, I was able to help my teammates improve their

skills by giving them feedback. I had never been severely injured before this, therefore, I never

realized how difficult it is to deal with injuries. Now that I have experienced a serious injury that

has sidelined me for a substantial amount of time, when a teammate of mine gets injured, I am

able to better understand how challenging it is to overcome and how difficult injuries can be to

deal with. My knee injury forever changed me, and you do not understand how much an injury

affects you until you go through one yourself.