It was right there. The ball was in the air, and as soon as it hit the ground, I knew that I had it.
Apparently, so did the girl right behind me.
As I turned around, that’s when she collided with me at full speed. The force knocked us both over; and as I fell to the ground, her foot caught mine at just the right angle, causing my ankle to roll. Already in pain, I tried to recover my stance before I hit the ground, but I was still tangled in her foot. We fell at the same time, and as her entire body landed on my left ankle; that’s when I heard it.
Crunch.
pain. Pain. PAIN.
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I just lay there holding my ankle, writhing in agony. I knew that I had to get up. The referee had already stopped the play. My teammates were already hovering over me. I didn’t want that kind of attention; I just wanted to keep playing injury-free. I slowly wiggled my toes inside of my cleats. Good. Nothing was broken. Then I tried to move my ankle. Pain shot through my foot all the way up to my knee.
But I stood up.
I kept playing.
Foolishly, I stayed in the game even though we had four subs on the sideline.
Foolishly, I tried to keep a good face and ignore the pain in my foot as I sprinted after the ball. And when my teammate passed me the ball in front of the open net, I pivoted to prepare for what should have been an easy shot (which were already in limited supply for us); but as I stepped onto my left ankle to bring my right foot back to kick, I suddenly felt as if my ankle would snap in half. The result was an incredibly weak shot as the other team took possession of the ball.
We lost the game 3:0, and as I hobbled off the field to my car, I was frustrated and angry- frustrated that we had lost another game and angry that I had somehow allowed myself to get injured for nothing.
So, here I sit with a swollen, sprained ankle, wondering when I will be able to walk again (let alone play soccer or run). I’m sure that there is a lesson to be learned from this experience somewhere. I know that everything happens for a reason…I guess I’m just trying to figure out what that reason is….
The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way. -Robert Kiyosaki