The only thing on my mind when someone passes me the soccer ball is scoring a goal. I love playing soccer and I’ve played my whole life. I had played from age 4 to 28 and never had any injuries. No sprained ankles, no pulled hamstrings, nothing. I didn’t think I was invincible but I thought that with that much experience playing and not getting injured, I must be doing something right. I knew how to fall or something.
But I cared too much about that leather ball and one day it showed. My teammate passed me a long ball. The only thing between me and the goal was the keeper. I just had to beat him to the ball. And he was thinking the same thing. I don’t know what happened to the ball but neither of us slowed down and his knee hit my shin, causing my bone to break so badly it broke through the skin. My first soccer injury. And it was a doozy.
Later, while I was being grateful that my prey was microwavable, I realized that I never had a coach who stressed safety to me. I’m not blaming my coaches, I’m just saying that whatever game you’re playing—soccer, making money, whatever—it’s almost always possible to take a step back and think of something that’s on a higher level and more important. Strikers want to score goals, but they also want their shins to be whole. You want to eat tasty food, but not if it leads to poor health. Stay safe. The things that you think will never happen can happen.
What about you? What is the worst injury you’ve had? Could you have avoided it?