In my 8th grade basketball season, we were doing great. The team was winning. I was in my prime. My teammates and I were closer than ever. It was an amazing feeling being so close to people just because you share a common interest.
It was great, until my injury. I was playing in a tournament when I fell sideways and felt an awful pain in my ankle. From that moment I knew that my season was over. I discovered I had a bad High-Ankle sprain. Suddenly, all of our team huddles became emotional and my teammates looked at me differently.
While in recovery, I couldn’t run so I spent my time either working on form shooting or watching my idols play to train my basketball IQ and add some of their moves to my mental game.
I trained hard and worked my way back up and eventually got recruited to play with a select team and in my first tournament back we got second place! I felt a rush of emotions including relief, joy, pride and so much more! My medal reminds me of the struggle I overcame and that passion can beat any obstacle.