Paige Sinicki

When a person goes through adversity, it can sometimes bring the best out of them. I personally was not thrilled when adversity was dealt to me in an unexpected way, but it will be something I will forever be grateful for as I was able to overcome this challenge. Not only overcome this challenge, but live this challenge.

My freshman year of high school I was faced with one of the biggest challenges of my life. It may not seem like a huge setback, but to me it was detrimental. It was a time in my life where I I felt I had reached an extremely low point in my life. However, those struggles helped define the person I am today.

It was a big freshman year for me as I was getting recruited for softball by big time schools. I was in the process of choosing my school, but instantly things looked different. I ended up tearing my ACL and my meniscus playing varsity flag football for my high school. That day, I thought my softball career was over. I felt as if I was never going to be the same person and player I was before my injury. I had surgery on my knee, and I was expected to be out for a good 6-7 months. I couldn’t play softball in any of these months, and I hated the fact I couldn’t play the game I loved. Instead, I had to go to Physical Therapy 4 times a week to rehab from my injury. Each day I went into the Physical Therapy hoping it would be my last, but it wasn’t. I realized that I couldn’t let this injury control the person I was. I started going into the PT place with determination to get better. I woke up knowing that when I put work in; it showed.

I faced many challenges mentally and physically from this injury. Mentally, I had to stay tough and trust the process. Physically, I was in a lot of pain. It was hard to walk and move my knee fluidly like I used to. The treatment they performed to improve my knee caused so much pain that I would cry at the office. However, I knew it was what my body needed. Day in and day out, I had to be the toughest person in the PT office. Some days I would be in the office for 3 hours just rehabbing. Some exercises became easy, but others I failed at. Gaining back my mobility and balance in my leg wasn’t simple. I would fail a lot on the balance board, but I would get back on til I could do the exercise. Everyday was a challenge in my recovery process, but these challenges helped me grow.

Growth in my mentality and my strength were the two biggest takeaways from my injury. Tearing my ACL taught me how to fight. Tearing my ACL taught me how to overcome obstacles. Tearing my ACL taught me how going through the lowest points in your life will bring some of the best moments in your life. Tearing my ACL brought me accomplishments that I will never forget. After I had recovered, I was cleared to play softball around the 6-7 month mark. I was cleared by the time of PGF Nationals, one of the largest softball tournaments in the Nation. All the best teams go to this week-long tournament where teams compete to win the national championship. We ended up winning the tourney, making us the number one team in the nation. We went undefeated in the 7 games we played, and I hit the walk-off homerun to send us to the championship game. I was named the MVP of the tourney for my story and performance.

I remember thinking back at the work and struggle I went through to get to where I was. I thought back to the time where I first started in the Physical Therapy office two days after my surgery where I couldn’t even walk. I had a big leg wrap on my knee and a set of crutches. There was nothing to look forward to. It was just myself, a lot of work ahead of me, and adversity along the path to my recovery. If I could go back in time where I never tore my ACL, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t trade this experience and setback for anything. This adversity led me to the person I was bound to become.