It’s a hard-knock life for athletes
By Johnny Stacewicz
Hat tricks do not come often in sports, especially in soccer. Three scores by a single player in one game is a a rarity. My last hat trick came on July 13, 2006. I had just scored the last of my three goals to put our team up six to four against a team from California. In celebration, one of my teammates jumped into my arms and I immediately went down. The tone went from joyous to concerned. My teammates gathered around and tried to help me up, but my left leg just would not work. I had dislocated my knee cap for the first time.
In high school, there is no money, no cars, no fame. The practices are long, the equipment is not exactly grade A, and at the end of the day, dead tired and dirty, athletes have to go home and do homework. The main differences between high school and the pros is not just skill, it is our for the love of the game.
As a kid, I bounced off the walls constantly. It drove my teachers and parents crazy. I needed something that would not only keep my attention, but something that could keep up with me.
Soccer saved me. I think every kid should play. Soccer equipment is dirt cheap. The only real thing you need is a ball and a flat surface, and the game never stops. I fell in love with it. Then, the summer after seventh grade, genetically bad knees caught up with me.
Since seventh grade, I have dislocated my knee cap four times and had three surgeries. Due to a sprained knee and a small tear in my meniscus, my senior season ended early.
As high school athletes, we give sports everything we have and sometimes they turn their backs on us. Whether you are a football player with a broken ankle, a baseball player with a bad elbow, a soccer player with a bad knee, or another athlete whose body has begun to give up on them, it can be hard to see the bigger picture right away. I know it feels like you have nothing. The one thing you were good at, the one place that you could go to get away, was taken from you. You did everything people asked of you and it was still taken away. When it happens, nothing can be said or done to give back what was taken.
I know the heartbreak. It is hard to live with, but the sooner you get over it the better. Whether they made a mistake in a game or got injured on the field, athletes need to have a selective memory. Forget the bad and move on.
What happens to the greatest athletes when they lose? They get back up and work harder. That is exactly what we need to do: pick ourselves up, clean ourselves off, and work because that is what we are best at.
There is a certain strength that cannot be lifted or squatted. It is the strength one gets when you are on crutches and take the stairs anyway. It is the strength that comes when you go to physical therapy three times a week for two months learning how to run again. It is the strength that comes from keeping your head up when you have every reason to let it hang.
For everyone of you that has been forced to say goodbye to something you love before you were ready, it is time to get up and get to work. Because that is what we do. We roll with adversity, and get back to work.
