I heard the crack. That was the moment when my world suddenly stopped. My world was soccer: following the ball and trying to score was my life. The accident happened two years ago. I was running and i wanted to steal the ball from my opponent. Suddenly I was stuck in the grass and tried to change my direction, but my knee stayed behind me and it snapped.
What came next was the surgery and the recovery process that gave me a life lesson. I felt a combination of fear and excitement. My greatest concern was getting back to the game quickly or I would probably forget how to play.
I learned that there were so many things I was grateful for, and I had the opportunity to get closer to my family and friends. It helped me to realise whom I could count on. My family remained with me and supported me throughout. My best friend stayed with me a whole week to take care of me. When I got out from the physical rehabilitation, I regained the strength of my leg at the gym, I could come back to the field. I remember that day; I was really scared to touch the grass and feel it. But I did it. I took the chance and proved that after all that I had been through, I could make it. I started to train with a little more intensity. Time flew and I trained for 3 long months, and finally recovered a few of the things that I had lost.
I received a call- a call from my trainer. I couldn't understand anything because I was playing table tennis and wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. But then I heard "National Team" and I had to take a bus. I immediately put down the paddle. I asked him to repeat what he had said, and he slowly did it. I had trouble processing that the National Team called me to play with them. I was screaming so loudly and I couldn't believe it. After the call, I got to represent my country. Though it was just a tryout, I went on that trip and completed the tryouts, which were really hard because it was cold and the altitude was high. When they read the list of the players who were going to play in Ecuador, my name was on it. Yes, it was on the list. That meant I got the chance to play in Ecuador. That was my chance to prove who I was.
Venezuela didn't do well. After a lot of training, my knee was in pain, I was honest and told the physical therapist that my knee hurt. She asked me to take impossible physical tests. I did them. The results were not good, and she told me I couldn't play the last game. The only game left was to be my chance. She prohibited my coach on the National Team to put me in any game until I got to Venezuela. It was my only chance to play and couldn't take it.
In the end, I realised that although it might seem bad that i didn't have the chance to play, but things happen for a reason. If they had called me once, that meant that I was important to them. I felt I had a future. My coach trusted in my skills and after all that was really mattered. The only thing that reminds me of that effort is a quote. It is short, but it shows what I learned from this injury: "Impossible is nothing."