After I received the news, that was all I could focus on. Everything else was a complete blur. I didn't pay attention to anything the doctor said after that or even my mom's reaction to the news. Those haunting eight words rattled around my brain, but still I couldn't wrap my head around the idea. All I heard again and again runnin through my brain was,"Sorry but you're out for the whole season." All I could feel was the disappointment. My body had let me down. Not only had I lost my starting spot, but I had to watch someone else try hopelessly to fill my spot.

Still to this day I regret pushing through that workout. I should have listened to my body and known what I was capable of doing. Yet what did I do, kept going...

I had a strange feeling that day, like I knew something was going to go wrong on the field. Well that wrong feeling came true when suddenly in the middle of drills I felt a sharp pain in my ribcage and had to stop for the day. All I could feel was intense pain radiating out from my ribs, it was one of the worst pains I had ever experienced. Although there was nothing specific that caused it, it put a sure end to my season.

After a week off, and about five practices sitting on the bench, I realized that the pain level wasn't going down and decided that it would be a good idea to visit a doctor. After seeing three different doctors that had no idea what was wrong with me I ended up at a sports medicine specialist that finally diagnosed my problem. The final diagnosis was a hyperextended muscle in the right side of my ribcage. This was caused by not stretching thoroughly and listening to my body telling me to stop the exercise.

Seven months later, the hyperextended muscle finally decided to heal , so I was headed to physical therapy and then back to the field to the sport I love. Except, from now on, I listen to my body and know what I am and am not capable of doing. Also, I make sure to properly stretch every muscle, even the ones I don't think I use so something like that doesn't happen again. This injury may have been a huge setback to my softball career, but it taught me some important things that athletes need to know. In the end, learning from your mistakes makes you better and now I am closer to my goals on the field because of my injury.