By: LAUREN LANDIN
Staff Writer
I´ve had good experiences and have had many bad experiences. I chose to write about Water Polo; it has changed my life significantly. In the middle of my eighth-grade year, my parents had been nagging me to play a sport in high school. I genuinely hated the idea of sports in general, the only thing I had done in middle school was color guard- some call it a sport however most do not. The last couple of days of my middle school education, I had seen a water polo flier that caught my attention. I went to my parents telling them I was going to try out for water polo and at that moment; I was the proudest I had ever seen them. I really was not a good swimmer and hoped to impress my family. Both of my cousins played water polo and I wanted to keep that tradition alive. I went on a cruise to Mexico with my entire family to celebrate the graduates of that year. I missed the first week of water polo training and was already behind the other freshmen. I worked my way up to the top on Junior Varsity- I became a starter and played more than the juniors on my team. It was an extremely exciting experience and I started to love water polo not just for my family but for myself. Fast forward months later, Covid-19 hits and swimming had ended so I was in no condition for my sophomore year. Covid ended up taking away my sophomore year experience including the sport I love with every part of me. We practiced 3 times a week, wearing our masks till the second we were in the pool. We stopped conditioning and just had to wait for what felt like an eternity. Fast forward to the summer before my junior year, I felt like I belonged with all of my teammates and my coaches, we practiced 5 days a week hard conditioning and I finally felt normal again. The weekend after hell week my family went to my cousin’s house for her birthday and I noticed my aunt sounds sick. Mind you Covid is still a really big thing in America- my sister spent the night and everything was fine until she came home with a cough. I personally have never caught Covid but my sister got tested and tested positive for Covid. I was not really bothered because I was taking precautions. I did not go to practice the next week and soon enough my brother got sick, then my mom, then my dad. I was the only one in my house that did not have the virus and I was planning on going to school. My dad went to the hospital for three weeks and it was heartbreaking. I got sick not long after that and in total, I missed the first three weeks of school and four weeks of practice. This set me back so far, mentally and physically. I did not even believe my dad would survive this. I decided that I was not going to let that keep me from going to school after I tested negative. The first day of school was overwhelming and I couldn’t wait for practice. I expected my spot on varsity to be waiting for me but it, unfortunately, did not. I chose to play for JV so I could experience playing time. It was a good year but I wished to be in Varsity so bad because even with all the setbacks I did my best and worked hard. The last summer of me playing Water Polo was definitely my favorite by a long shot. I finally got to enjoy my summer without water polo taking all of my free time. There had been no setbacks and it was really great. I played a total of 4 games before my life changed. On August 5, 2022, I fractured my ring finger on my left hand. Although my doctor put me in a splint and told me not to play or even take the splint off, I still played for about two weeks. On August 18, 2022, I went to Valley Children’s in Fresno, California to a plastic surgeon who specializes in finger surgery. The entire car ride there I was excited to finally let the doctors let me off my splint. Two hours later I walked out of Valley Children’s with an arm cast that looks like an oven mitt. My heart sinks every time someone asks me what happened even though it was my fault for not resting it. I have had many setbacks these past four years and I will NOT let a cast stop me from my senior season. I will come back a better person through all of this- I just have to get through the mental part of it first.