Hurt Athletes, Hurt Feelings

There are many athletes all around the world that play many different sports. Often, people even use the sport they play to describe who they are as a person. For example, one would say, “I’m a runner.” Most are dedicated and love the sport they play. Some athletes lives even entirely revolve around the sport they play. Imagine having to stop playing the sport that you love so much, whether it’s for a certain amount of time or forever, because of an injury.

Getting hurt during a game is very common. It can be a minor injury like a scrape or a bruise or it can be very serious like a broken leg or arm. When athletes break or sprain a bone or tear a muscle, they usually are told to stop doing productive activities for a while including the sport they were playing. For people that don’t enjoy playing their sport, it’s not that much of a problem. On the other hand, athletes that adore the game, end up very devastated.

The American Psychologist Association did a survey where athletes were asked how they felt everyday from the day of their injury to the day they started practicing again. All of the people asked gave negative responses such as frustration or anger and discouragement. As time passed and they were healing, these responses started to decrease and started to become more positive. They started to give responses such as hopeful and optimistic.

Avery Rose Peterson, a freshman here at Pitman High School, sprained her ankle playing basketball in the 7th grade and had to stop playing for two months.

“I was really sad that I had to stop playing at all. Basketball is my main and favorite sport and I was very mad and frustrated that I had to rest until my ankle healed and just watch everybody else play and enjoy the game. Basketball was my hobby and it occupied me. Without it, I was just bored and sad,” said Avery.

Annahi Carbajal, another freshman here at Pitman High, recently tore her ACL when she was pushed during a soccer game.

“I didn’t think it was anything serious because after a week, I could kind of walk with a brace. When the doctor got back to me and told me I had tore my ACL and that I was most likely going to need surgery, I was scared and really sad. Soccer season was barely starting in high school and I wasn’t even gonna get the chance to play,” stated Annahi. “The doctor told me it would take about two to three months after surgery along with physical therapy. Knowing I wasn’t going to be able to play my favorite sport for a while really put me down. Especially since i’m not going to play for the high school for my first year in high school,” she sighed.

Overall, when athletes get injured, they end up being very sad for a long time until they are able to return back to the sport they love to play. They feel useless, unhappy, or mad and they have no control over it. The only way to heal is simply, to rest.