The youth I just met thirty minutes ago laid unconscious on the turf, with the crowd of hundreds staring at the ambulance that pulled up on the field itself. The entire moment was so hard to comprehend due to it happening so quickly, and the reaction of the crowd filled your ears to the point where you can’t even grasp what’s happening.
It’s football. Sometimes referred to as the most brutal sport, or most popular in that case, where you have to wear countless protective pads to only weaken the pain that comes, with injury not being avoidable at any cost. The quote “If you think football is for fun, you’re completely wrong. When you go on that field, you’re going to war.” could sum up the intensity of the sport. It could be argued that it’s a game that…show more content… At that moment I didn't even want to play anymore, I just wanted to head home and try to forget the entire incident. But we had a game to play, and regardless of what happened, it depended on whether or not we clinched a spot in the playoffs, the ultimate goal for the regular season.
This wasn't the first injury presented to me in football, but it was the first to have the ambulance literally drive onto the field. I saw the black tire marks created by the wheels of the vehicle being engraved into the turf, debating if the game will just be called off. A few teens from the other team started crying.
My heart sunk as I saw him pulled up onto the stretcher and into the ambulance, and only could imagine what the other side felt. Anger? Hate? Doubt? It wasn't going to be easy mentally or physically to meet them back there on the line.
There were a few other games after us on the same exact field, and the entire situation took about thirty minutes, but felt like decades looking at the unresponsive youth lying on his back. All of those thoughts of football just “being a game” suddenly vanished elsewhere. I kept that in mind for the following games and upcoming
