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Throughout my younger years, I loved my football. No injuries, no pressure; just freedom and pleasure. However, the older I got, the taller I grew, and the stronger I became, the more complications I was faced with through injuries. In January 2020, after a long travel up to Aberdeen, Scotland, the pain in the front of my knee was just unbearable. This pain had bothered me for months before this game, but no one could put their finger on what it really was. I was just told to take weeks out and then try again. I really wished for a diagnosis and management plan!
Fluctuating feelings
At this point in my career, I experienced positive and negative feelings towards the game: the excitement of being told I would do preseason and have game-time with reserves was the best news I had ever had, but this never really came to anything due to both injuries and COVID-19. The intermittent breaks from football were not helping my injury at all. Then the country went into lockdown. The accompanying uncertainty further challenged me mentally. Until then, I never had any idea of what injuries—or any struggle in life—could do to …
Footnotes
Contributors CJ is the sole author.
Funding The author has not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.