Softball and I have a love-hate relationship. From a young age, I turned to it as a way to escape reality, to bury my feelings in the familiarity of my cleats digging into the soft dirt and the scent of old leather that never seemed to go away. Softball was my entire personality; it was my go-to answer to the ever-hated question, “Tell me a little bit about yourself,” was at the top of every resume, every personality assessment, and made multiple appearances on college applications. After eleven years of playing, I found that I’d become one with the sport; to my friends, I was softball, and as far as I was concerned, that was enough. Though the good memories heavily outweigh the bad, there were certainly a few setbacks throughout my career. As I grew older, I became a perfectionist within a sport of failure. During my junior year of high school, I reached the point at which softball became the source of the feelings I was trying to escape. I was placing a monstrous burden on myself, caught in the crossfire between being recruited to play in college and finding a school that fit my academic needs. Eventually, I came to the heartbreaking realization that in order to give myself the best chance at a future, I would need to give up on the sport that had never given up on me. While I may have my qualms, softball is truly the reason I am the person I am today. It has taught me that hard work, perseverance, teamwork, and a positive attitude can take you further than raw talent ever will. For years of my youth, I learned how to become a leader, how to let my desires propel me through tough times. It would have been easy for me to give up back when I was young. I was never the strongest, fastest, or flashiest player on a team. I prided myself on smarts and leadership, and yet I still wanted more. So, I worked for it. Throughout my high school career, I spent countless hours at the field and watching film, learning how to become the player I wanted to be. Because of these lessons I learned, I went on to break school records, become a 2x All-State player, and have the best four years of varsity one could ever dream of. Outside of softball, this newfound dedication began to seep into schoolwork and extracurriculars. I learned to rely on the people I surrounded myself with, never do anything halfway, and never quit. As far as plans for the future go, I won’t ever truly be done with softball. I plan to try out for the club team in college and potentially become a manager for UNC’s Division I program. Fittingly enough, I also owe my career aspirations to softball; if it weren’t for this sport, I’d never have met our school’s athletic trainer, wouldn’t have fallen in love with the way that precision and excellence allowed my friends and teammates to return to playing the sport we love so much, and never would have made it my life’s goal to assist young athletes in their darkest of times as an Orthopedic Surgeon. At the end of the day, I know nothing will ever be certain. But I no longer look at that in fear. Because I know that no matter where life takes me, I can always return to the comfort and inspiration of softball’s wisest advice: work hard, persevere, and be great.

In my first week of athletic training, I watched our high school’s star cornerback dislocate his elbow. In the heat of the moment, I was exuberant; we called 911, directed first responders, and watched the adult trainers splint the athlete’s arm. Initially, I was intrigued, excited that the injury was a break from the buzz of our everyday routine. After all, I’d never witnessed such an injury; I’d seen various turf burns and knocked-out teeth throughout my softball career, but never something so severe. I was enamored with the chance to truly experience the action that came with the title of “Athletic Trainer,” to see all of the skills I had learned throughout anatomy and sports medicine classes be put into practice. But after observing that injured teen standing on the sideline in the following weeks, longingly watching his teammates do what he no longer could, I realized that where I was given an opportunity, one was taken from him. I came to the conclusion that the most rewarding careers center on helping others recover from misfortune, pushing them to face adversity and grow stronger from pain. I knew I wanted to be a part of that recovery process, to provide an athlete the ability to return to doing what they love. Since that moment, I’ve dedicated 215 hours to athletic training across four different sports, and I remain hungry for more. Because of my experience in sports medicine, I began researching ways to pursue a career in the medical field. Faced with endless possibilities, it felt overwhelming at times; there were so many different paths I could take, an infinite number of ways to fulfill my need to help the athletes around me. Deciding that I wanted a future career that would both challenge me academically and allow me to continue working within the world of sports, I finally settled on orthopedics. I believe that my time as both an athlete and athletic trainer has allowed me to see both sides of a situation, to be able to physically treat any ailment while remaining empathetic for the athlete behind the injury. If there is anything I’ve learned from my time spent with and as a high school athlete, it’s that oftentimes all an individual needs is for someone to believe in and understand them. That is something that I intend to take with me into my future endeavors, where I can use my experience playing softball to connect with the athletes that I will likely work with daily, and my time as a trainer to connect with coworkers to provide the best and most innovative care possible. At the end of the day, I intend to pursue a career in orthopedics in order to help athletes like myself return to playing the sport they love at the level they have worked so hard to achieve.