In no way is it your fault but you still blame yourself for every time you can.
They say injuries are part of the game, that it is just something you get over and rehab until you're ready to play again, but there is so much more than that. No one talks about the mental battle every injury brings on, how much you doubt yourself more or the confidence you lose the minute you hear just how long you'll be out for. Your entire game changes and will never be the same the second your body hit impact.
I suffered a concussion the first day of my senior season and another one almost exactly two weeks later. I missed a month and a half of a season that meant more to me than anything, every day I am reminded that my injury took something from me I will never be able to get back. It makes me angry, I get frustrated, but mostly I feel discouraged.
You feel like you will never get back the time you lost, that you will never be the player you were or that you'll never catch up with the growth your team is experiencing on the field without you. Sometimes you just feel like it will never be the same so just back out now, I feel like that a lot, but that is not the mentality to have.
To the athlete whose injury took their season away, you are not alone. Sometimes you may feel like the whole world is crashing down around you and that no one could possibly understand the pain your feeling, but just let it out.
Lean on your teammates, let them support you because that's what they are there for. Give yourself time to heal, listen to your athletic trainers or doctors and do not try to play God and speed up recovery. Most importantly, never, ever think that this is the end for you.
Whether you are a freshman or senior, know the game is never going anywhere. It will always be there for you, waiting until you return in whatever way you can next. This season does not define you as an athlete, what you make of it and how you respond to it does.