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College Application Essay
College Application Essay
Kevin Ackerman
Mrs. Cramer
Comp Pd. 8
4 December 2018
Challenge Accepted
Everyone faces challenges in his or her life that one must overcome. I had to face a
challenge an athlete never wants to face, and it changed me forever. During my sophomore year
of high school, I was faced with an injury that would heavily impact the rest of my season. The
problem occurred in football practice when my knee popped out of socket and was dislocated.
This injury had a much bigger impact than I expected it to, sidelining me for the second
half of the football season. I had to go through extensive physical therapy for about two months
in an attempt to strengthen the muscles around my knee again. My hockey season was also
affected, which led me to be out for the first month of the season. This not only prevented me
from being able to play hockey, but to do everything that I enjoyed. Being able to play under the
lights on those crisp Friday nights, late in the season with my teammates, was a huge part of my
life. I loved playing with and being around the team, but having to stand on the sidelines and just
watch was almost as painful as the injury itself. To make it even worse, the injury carried over
into the winter, which sidelined me from hockey as well. Not being able to play hockey or be on
the ice with my teammates was just as difficult. This injury affected me most by not allowing me
to play with my teammates that I have created such great bonds with over the years.
Ackerman 2
The biggest lesson that I was able to take away from this experience was to not give up,
but instead, to work even harder to get my knee into better shape. Just because my knee injury
sidelined me for two months did not mean I could stop working for the future and my dreams.
Injuring my knee made me realize that I needed to work even harder and I became a better
student. I noticed I needed to stay determined, and prepare myself better, as well as stop
procrastinating. As a result of this, my grades improved noticeably. During the rest of the
football season, even though I was sidelined, I was able to help my teammates improve their
skills by giving them feedback. I had never been severely injured before this, therefore, I never
realized how difficult it is to deal with injuries. Now that I have experienced a serious injury that
has sidelined me for a substantial amount of time, when a teammate of mine gets injured, I am
able to better understand how challenging it is to overcome and how difficult injuries can be to
deal with. My knee injury forever changed me, and you do not understand how much an injury