By Paul Washington, Senior at Calvin Coolidge High School
I tore my ACL in my senior year of high school one month before the season started. Mentally, I became exhausted, questioned my abilities, and started to rethink my status as a role model and leader. I often heard people talking about me. Statements like, “You aren’t going to be as good as you were before.” really affected me. I also felt my college future was gone, as I had high hopes of being recruited to play college sports. This event crushed me, and it hurt me to the core when something I loved was taken away from me in the blink of an eye.
Tearing my ACL affected me significantly, both negatively and positively, in part by forcing me to explore other career paths and things that I’d like, such as being a physical therapist or an orthopaedic doctor.
Tearing my ACL was a huge setback for me and my family. It put a huge halt to my recruitment for football and took a huge toll on my day-to-day life. For my family, it was hard because I could no longer be the helping hand I usually am, and they had to begin relying on my younger brothers who aren’t as capable to do certain tasks as I am.
When I entered high school, my leadership abilities became stronger. I was on the football team and had the highest GPA among my teammates and was often asked to help other students with their studies. My school community really looked up to me. I was asked to speak at events, participate in community outings and speak with younger students on the importance of academics. Additionally, as a student-athlete, I consistently made sure to focus on my studies first and would often tell my peers that their education is a top priority, especially if they aspired to play collegiate sports.
This injury has taught me perseverance and how to deal with adversity while staying positive. While I’ve been sitting on the sideline watching practices and games, I’ve learned a lot about myself and how much football really means to me. The biggest lessons I learned, though, are to have patience and to have faith.
Patience is big for me because being in a rush to play is the reason hurt in the first place. Having faith is also big for me because I have to be able to trust that God has everything under control and that he knows what’s best for me. I have to trust and have faith that he’s going to lead me down the right path in no particular form or fashion, just safely.
From an early age, leadership, service, hard work, and resilience were instilled in me. My mother, a DC elementary educator, made sure I was surrounded by positive people who helped me to learn about the importance of goal setting and working through many obstacles to achieve success. I have always been a strong student-athlete and school leader throughout my k-12 education. In elementary school, I consistently earned honour roll recognition and used my academic abilities to help others. I worked as a tutor and peer mentor in 8th grade for students struggling in math, and I often volunteered at a local community center to help younger students with reading.
While recent events tested me, they reshaped what I understand leadership to be. Although these obstacles were challenging, I learned the true definition of leadership. A leader is someone who can overcome adversity, remain positive and still see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was often credited for having a positive attitude during my healing process, especially as I had to sit on the side and watch my teammates and friends play the sport that I loved.
