Over 3 million  kids are injured playing sports every year. 

I had never been severely injured playing football, but that all changed at the game on Friday, September 24; I broke my hand blocking on the offensive line. I wanted to share the experience that goes with being an injured player in one of the most team-oriented sports in the world. 

At first it was very disappointing to have to come out of the game and hear the athletic trainer say that I couldn’t go back in. I had to sit on the sideline and watch my replacement play for me. 

 “Hopefully you aren’t injured too bad because I don’t like playing offense,” my replacement, left guard Nathan Hodshire said.

It was an immense feeling of helplessness because I couldn’t do anything about it. To make it even worse, we ended up losing the game. It felt like it was my fault. 

After the game, it didn’t get much better. At practice all I could do was watch and help my replacement with the plays he didn’t know. When the next game came around, I still wore my jersey to school to support my team because that’s all I could do. At the game I couldn’t even be the water boy because I broke my hand, so I had to do things I had never done before. 

One thing I had never done before was cheering for my team from the sideline. After that game I realized how little I could impact the team’s performance from the sideline.

Due to my injury I slowly started not going to practice and focusing more on my homework after school. Coach Robinson said, “The best thing to do is rest,” but it has been hard to keep my mind off of the fact that I’m going to miss the rest of my junior season because of this injury. 

My teammates help unknowingly when we see each other in the hallway. When they acknowledge me or make a joke about my injury, it makes me feel still like a part of the team.     

Homecoming went well. The student representation was the biggest we ever had in my time on the team, and I truly felt like I was a part of something great. Maple Street Middle School’s football team got to come and watch us. Because I was on the sideline, I got to interact with the middle school kids and tell them about what it’s like to play high school football.