BY STEVE TERRY
Everyone gets all hyped up about sports. As a soccer player myself, I am familiar with the feeling of getting lost in the game. In the moment, nothing else matters, except for beating the other team. The opponents are your enemies, and your teammates are the only friends that matter.
The game against Allatoona on February 17 was no exception. The game was intense, and I was more caught up in it than I have been in any game for a while. The animosity between our two teams was impossible to ignore.
This all changed, when in the 57th minute with the score tied 1 to 1, senior midfielder Anderson Price came down awkwardly from a header and broke both his tibia and fibula. His extremely painful injury instantly ended the game, and brought us all back to a horrifying reality. Suddenly our opponents were just people, like us, full of worry for our fallen teammate.
Price was rushed to the hospital after his injury, where his leg was put in a soft body cast. He has not needed surgery and is beginning his recovery with a hard cast.
The freak accident made me take a step back and look at the game as what it really is: a high—risk intense sport that can be both extremely fun and very dangerous. Even though Anderson’s injury is the worst one I have ever witnessed in person, I know people who have torn ACLs, broken arms and gotten concussions while playing the sport. Many people don’t see soccer as a contact sport because they are used to the brutality of football, but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t without its own risks. Just three months ago, I snapped my collarbone during soccer practice.
The hearts of the team are with Anderson, but despite his injury, we must continue with the season. The dangers of soccer have always existed; it is only now that they have come home to my teammates and me.
