One of my moments started with an announcer's voice booming through the speakers hung up accordingly around the arena that was hosting my soccer teams district finals game. “FREEDOM SCORES AGAIN!!” he yells.
I looked up at the twinkling night sky watching my breath puff out like little white clouds and disappear blending into the pitch black night. Leaning onto my knees I take my hand and swipe it across the back of my left thigh to get rid of the painful burning from my most recent dive into the turf suddenly time seemed to stop.
I bring my hand back into view and notice the red glint staining my hand, highlighted by the stadium lights. I turn my leg and study the steadily increasing blood stain dripping down my hip and soaking into my uniform.
Bleeding during a game mandates immediate substitution, but with 20 minutes left in the game and being down by 2 goals, I decided to just pull my compression shorts around the burning wound, wipe away the blood, and keep playing through the pain.
The importance of this moment is not if we managed to win the game or not (just to note that we didn’t win), it is to showcase an important character piece in the complexity that is my personality. I have always been stubborn. My parents had raised me to never give up and give everything I got with whatever I am doing. When I reached the age to play sports I found that the unrelenting toll that soccer took on my mind and body was both challenging and rewarding and put the practice into what my parents were preaching, to never give up.
We are challenged everyday to push ourselves and while it might not be an injury worthy of substitution in an important game. It could be a defining factor to what makes you, you. I would love to know what qualities you have that you are proud of or that define you.
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