Have you ever played a sport, and then been injured horribly? Then, once you recovered, you had everyone encouragingly rooting for you when you came back? Your answer is probably yes, but unfortunately, I can't relate. I did not have that. Ever since I was three years old I have been swimming, and I loved it so much. Jumping into the icy, cold water is what I looked forward to every day.

I dreamed to go to the Olympics when I was six, but as I grew older, I knew that was not going to happen. I was one of the fastest people on my team, and I constantly went up levels, and I got better and better. I was so happy. But then it happened when I was rollerblading... I had the injury that changed my life.

My mom took me to the doctor the day after it happened and with a few scans, I found out that my left patella had been severely dislocated. At that point, there were only two options: surgery or tons of physical therapy. I decided to go the physical therapy route, thinking that it would mean less time away from swimming.

After a few months of rigorous therapy, I felt ready to swim, so I went back to my coach who welcomed me back with open armsand said not to put too much pressure on my knee and everything. I was fine for a couple of months. But then evaluations came through a month or two later, and I was moved to a higher team because my coach told me I was ready. Little did I know that my new coach would not be as understanding as my old one.

I started attending these practices regularly and held off on trying to tell the coach that I have a bad knee because it wasn't hurting much, but my friend was completely against it, and he said that one day, you're going to have to tell him. The very next day, my coach tells us to swim the one stroke my doctor told me not to... breaststroke. Now I had to tell. So, I got out of the pool, walked up to him and said, "I can not swim breaststroke/"

He asked why, and I told him about my knee, to which he said,"Well, then, you need to stop or quit swimming."

The second those words came out of his mouth, I was so furious that I walked back to the pool and swam those breaststroke laps like there was something I had to prove. I knew didn't have to prove anything. He and I both knew I was a good swimmer. The day after, my knee became incredibly sore because I overdid it, and when I went back to the doctor's office, my doctor basically told me that I should swim, but I couldn't risk to overdo it. That didn't work out, because every time I saw that coach, I swam like there was something I had to prove.

It's been six months since then, and I can no longer swim because I overdid my knee too much. Now, I have to constantly wear my brace and do physical therapy.

After this experience, I truly don't know how to feel. I am angry that my coach drove me to quit, but I am also pretty disappointed in myself because I should have known my limits before exceeding them. Just because of my ego getting the best of me, my dreams left me...