By Alice Pulliam

Staff Writer

School sports provide students with countless opportunities outside the classroom. In addition to helping teenagers learn valuable lessons like teamwork and discipline, they give an outlet to temporarily escape the stress the school year brings. For those who wish to play in college, sports pave the way to their future. However, this does come with costs. Participating in sports places a huge risk on all athletes; the risk of injury. Sport injuries not only affect a player physically, but are hugely detrimental mentally.

    After an injury, athletes are faced with a decision: the decision to let the injury define you, or to get back up and recover. No matter the athlete facing the injury, or the sport which injured them, the players that are able to pick themselves up all share one thing in common: resilience.

    During a football practice over the summer, Landon Suber suffered from a grade four liver laceration when he came in contact with a teammate’s knee when they jumped to catch a ball. Suber immediately knew something was wrong and was rushed off the field by ambulance. In the next four days, he would undergo three emergency procedures. One of the worst parts was knowing he would be unable to return to the field for his senior season, but Landon kept his head up.

    “It’s been tough knowing that I can’t play the sport that I love, but I’ve tried to keep a positive mindset, and that’s what kept me going,” Suber said.

    Another athlete, Eva Simpson, partially tore her ACL during a varsity soccer game.

    “I thought my whole world had turned upside down,” Simpson said.

    Unfortunately, for Reynolds athletes, the injuries continue to pile up. During a home football game against Atkins, Storm Christ tore his ACL and meniscus. Athletes who suffer these kinds of injuries often feel powerless, especially when they did nothing wrong.

    “I had everything I have worked for my entire life just taken from me without it even being my fault,” Christ said.

    Despite the setback, these athletes worked tirelessly to recover, whether they could return to the field or not.

    “I learned that if I can get through that, then I can get through anything,” Suber said.

    Being removed from the field, their sport, and often kept at home to recover, students can feel isolated. A support system is what makes recovery not done alone. Knowing your family, friends, coaches, and teammates have your back makes the healing process easier.

    “They were showing me support while I was in the hospital, and kept checking in on me,” Suber said. “My coach also had a big role and he came and visited me multiple times.”

    Not all recovery is visible though.

    “The mental recovery process was harder than the physical recovery because I couldn’t measure my growth, so sometimes it felt like I was making no progress,” Simpson said.

    For seniors like Suber and Christ, missing out on their senior football seasons this year due to an injury  added to the mental struggle.

    “I would say the mental battle is the hardest thing to deal with knowing that this is my senior year and I won’t get to step on the field in the same manner with my brothers as I did before,” Christ said.

    These athletes proved their resilience. Not only to those who heard their story, but to themselves. They showed that even in the worst times when they have been hit hard, they will get back up and keep moving forward.

    “The most important thing is to just focus on the future and not dwell on what has already happened due to the fact you can’t change the past,” Christ says.