What would happen if the five foot two inch girl had popped
my shoulder out of socket? What if I wouldn’t be able to play with or support
my team for the rest of the season? Would I heal quickly enough or would I just
sit in the crowd and watch? These were all the questions I asked myself as a
clutched my shoulder in pain.
It was a Sunday afternoon, about one-thirty, at Morton High School.
My teammates and I were facing the best girl basketball team in the league. We
had never beaten them before, but we were looking pretty good then. It was the second quarter and we were on
defense. I saw one of the girls race down the court to make a lay-up, but that
was NOT happening while I was on the court. In my head, my plan seemed great. I
would get in my defensive stance in front of her, steal the ball, dribble down
the court, and make a three-pointer. Well it actually didn’t go as well as I
had planned. What really happened was this: When number five was dribbling down
the court I stopped in front of her and just stood there for a while. She was
running towards me so fast that when she ran into me I heard a pop/crack in my
shoulder and it hurt really badly. I started to feel dizzy and my vision
started to blur. I almost fell but I got my footing together. Luckily, the
clock was counting down so the next sound I heard was “BUUAAAH”!!!!
I walked over to the sidelines with the rest of my team and
sat Native American style on the floor. My friend’s mom, one of the assistant
coaches, saw what had happened and came over to me. “Are you alright? I saw
that girl run into you and you looked hurt”, she asked. “Yea, I’m fine. But
that girl is so retarded, man. I mean I hope someone fouls her in this next
quarter if she plays. That should’ve been a foul!” By the time I had finished
going off, I checked the scoreboards. We were falling behind and I knew this
game was going to be a blow-out. The pain from my shoulder mixed with the
frustration from the game was very stressful and I just wanted to get back on
the floor and get all that energy out.
By fourth quarter my shoulder was feeling better and I was
able to go back on the court. I was happy to be back on the court but it was
also too late for us to catch up with the other team. Time was running out and
my teammates weren’t hustling as much. I tried my best and I’m sure some others
did too but we were losing by twenty. Even though we lost that day, we still
had fun, well except for my arm almost falling off.
