In the 2012-2013 school year, 14,048 US high schools fielded teams to play American football with 11 men per team and the number is still growing in the United States, and I was part of that statistic. I was a freshman going to high school for the first time, everything was new to me except one thing "football". Football is my favorite sport, there was nothing like it. I played almost all sports but eventually gave up everything else because I fell in love with the atmosphere of football and have played every year since I was six. I couldn't wait to finally play in high school and be able to play at the “G” (which was the football stadium). I remember like it was yesterday with these exact words my father said to me: "Son, high school dance is completely different. I remember practice perfectly, everyone came onto the field after the school bell rang and we started getting dressed, we did our normal stretches and then split into groups for drills, from then on it was all in slow motion. Our coach thought it would be a good idea to do the “Oklahoma” drill, which is illegal now but wasn't back then. The drill consists of six players; two defensive linemen, two offensive linemen and one running back. The aim of the drill is for the offensive linemen to create space for the running back to run and not be tackled. they rotate positions. It was all in slow motion while I was in line. I was the third to throw the ball and every time the whistle blew one after the other my teammates ran into the empty spaces. Finally it was my turn, I hid the ball and got ready. After arriving at the hospital I was taken to the emergency room and met my parents. They made us wait until I could take x-rays to see what was wrong, but after being sedated with painkillers I couldn't remember anything after the first 20 minutes of being admitted to hospital. After I got home, they put me in a brace that forced me to keep my leg straight so as not to further injure my knee. From there on I went through mandatory physical therapy and recovery periods for six months, then returned to football and finished the rest of high school playing football. Even though it's been a while since I've been injured, my knee will never be 100% like it once was, it still has problems sometimes but it survives them. Having an injury similar to mine can really affect someone for the rest of their life and make them feel as helpless as I did after being taken in an ambulance. I really thought I would never play football again, which for me was the worst feeling in the world. Even after what happened, I look at it as a learning experience understanding the importance of being safe in sports, especially contact sports like football. Learning coping techniques can make all the difference in the world between shattering someone's dreams and fueling them.