Being a college athlete is an experience that everyone should get the liberty to live. Being an athlete, in general, is a mentally and physically draining job, but it is so worth it. I played college softball for a small DIII school in my hometown, and it was my absolute life.
Growing up, I most definitely lived, ate, and breathed softball. There was not a weekend you wouldn't find me on the field practicing or playing for one of four teams that I played for in middle/high school. I grew up playing travel ball in North Louisiana. I would travel all over Texas, Arkansas, South Louisiana, and Mississippi playing tournament softball and I did this for seven years straight. After a while, it had a detrimental effect on my body.
The position's I played were catcher, third base, first base, and pitcher. I pitched in high school and that's where I tore my shoulder for the first time. I was young and dumb and ignored the pain by drinking bottles of ibuprofen and coating tiger balm on my right shoulder. By At the end of my junior year I started to go to physical therapy, hoping it would forever heal my shoulder.
Boy, I was so wrong!
I continued with my career of softball into my freshman year of college where I played at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was a small team but I loved every single one of my girls. When I got there the former head coach had moved to another college in Shreveport and we got a GREAT new coach. He pushed us to be the absolute best. During workouts, no matter how much we wanted to stop, he and our other amazing coach pushed us.
Softball was still my life.
Like stated earlier, our team was small. I was one of two catchers that came to the school. By the end of fall semester, I was the only catcher until we got another girl who happens to be the biggest motivator of my life. It was her and me, and I could be having the worst game ever and coach could have been yelling at me louder than a jet going through the mountains and she was still there trying to support me.
Half way through the spring season, something happened that I had prayed never would. I lost control of my shoulder. It didn't hurt; I just couldn't feel anything. It made my shoulder feel numb, and I wasn't able to throw because I couldn't tell where the ball was going to go. I went to the doctor and had an MRI done. My results where an anterior labral tear in my shoulder. I wasn't allowed to throw anymore. I had surgery over the summer and once they got into surgery, my results were even worse. I ended up having an anterior and posterior labral tear on top of severe bursitis. I decided to end my softball career after this.
Seven months post op I decided to try to throw again and I couldn't. It felt impossible and it was literally the worst feeling in the whole entire world. Being an athlete that can't do what she spent her whole life doing is the worst feeling. I'll be honest I cried. I miss softball so very much. Not being able to throw a ball, especially as a former catcher, was horrible. It made me want to relive my childhood and just go back to the times where I would play seven games in a day. The life of being a college athlete is hard. Even once you're done playing physically, everything you do and think about still revolves around that sport. You just take it day by day and try to live the life you don't seem to know anymore.
