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The Redshirt Year
Don’t take things on alone ever.
Always, always, always celebrate your small victories.
Push yourself to be a better teammate/person
Forever have a smile on your face
If someone asks how your day is going, respond with fabulous or living the dream
Keep imagining yourself and your life after overcoming this mountain
Feel and remember both the highs and the lows
Find yourself outside of your sport
Enjoy recapturing your love for the game again
Yesterday our loss to USC marked the end of the 2019 Aggie Soccer Season. Yesterday also marked the end of my medical redshirt season. To say it has been the longest semester of my life is probably an understatement. I was unexpectedly faced with mountains bigger than anything I could ever imagine overcoming. Sitting through an entire college soccer season and not being able to play is one of the hardest things I have ever had to. As of yesterday, though, I am able to say I made it. I conquered that part of the journey. I find it important to celebrate and reflect on that. The lowest lows we experience often prepare us for the highest highs.
I tore my ACL for the first time October of 2018, about halfway through my freshman season. I sat out the rest of the season, with my sights set for the 2019 Fall; I had played too many games to redshirt, so I didn’t really have to worry about it. I worked the Spring semester and beginning of the Summer to be ready for preseason in August. Flash forward to June 17, 2019 – the first night I was cleared to play in a small-sided scrimmage. I re-tore my ACL 20 minutes into that small-sided scrimmage. Just like that, everything I had worked for the past eight months was taken away from me. And I was faced with something college athletes never think they will be until they are – a medical redshirt year.
How does one hit rock bottom and manage to recover? The list of nine things at the top of this post details nine of the most important things I have learned from this experience. I think they’re applicable to everyone’s life, and whatever you’re passionate about. They may not work for everyone, but I can tell you they saved me. They helped me turn my worst days into some not so bad ones, and the most challenging soccer season I’ve been through into one I will remember for the rest of my soccer career. My redshirt year came as a blessing in disguise that prepared me for things in my future far greater than I ever could have imagined. Cheers to blessings in disguise – and cheers to the end of the redshirt year. Coming soon - the comeback year.
Optimistic thought of the day - glass is always half full. always.