During my middle and high school years I had a difficult time focusing on my studies and my education because of the difficulties I had with my legs. I thought I wouldn’t be able to join school activities or be engaged in after school sports because It was difficult for me to do exercise for long periods of time. Everything started in middle school when I was told I was flat footed and that one of my joints was misplaced. I was very worried because all I wanted was to play soccer, but my feet would not allow me to do so. The reason why my feet wouldn’t allow me was because every time I ran or kicked the ball my foot would freeze not letting me run or make any movement, my foot would not enable me to kick the ball because I had to use lots of force. Although I knew I was not allowed to play my favorite sport, I was up for the challenge. I wanted to play soccer that I did not tell my parents I had joined the soccer team (sorry mom, dad) because I knew they would not accept it. After a few days of joining the soccer team I had noticed I was the only girl who joined the team, it was very awkward and I knew I would probably get laughed at because “soccer is a boys sport” but, I was determined to give it a try. For a couple of weeks everything was going great, but towards the end of the season I started feeling pain in my foot and my foot would freeze frequently. I started getting worried and decided to go visit my doctor. Until this day, I do not regret playing soccer, but I do regret not telling my parents. In the past 4 years I have had two surgeries because I was not careful and did not think of consequences before deciding to play. I had a lot of struggles through the process of having surgery, while I was in surgery, and after having surgery. Although I did have some struggles I would say everything happens for a reason, and if I wouldn’t of gone through the struggles I went through, I probably wouldn’t be a WSU student today. With my personal story I plan to get permission from individuals who were there with me through the process of surgery and ask them a few questions on what were the ups and downs that they saw I faced while being through the process. Also, I plan to attach videos that I have of myself playing soccer, and how soccer motivated me to attend school and continue my education. Not only will I use audio and videos, but I will also show images and receive permission of any images that contain my teammates.
The following article describe some of the reasons why sports are a great resource for individuals and how it helps them keep motivated for their education.
Also, this article provides some of the benefits of why it is important for girls/women to be involved with sports, specially soccer.
Not only does a sport have benefits for the players that are involved in the sport, but it also has benefits for the audience watching the game. For several years that I had played soccer, my dad did not want to see my games because he did not want to see me getting hurt, but after a while he attended one of my games and he learned a lot. As a parent, it is important to understand what activities our children are involved in because not only could we learn from the sport, but we can also learn more about our children’s likes and dislikes.
Brenda's Blog 