The Waiting Game by CK

The Waiting Game by CK - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

Last school year felt so long. I waited 4 months for surgery to wait 4 weeks before I can slowly progress to using both my legs to walk. My junior year of high school, I had set myself up for success. 3 APs and 1 honor, but I planned to join 3 sports.
Flag football is the new sport that I convinced myself into committing. This team sport that I was watching during track practice while running my 200 meters the previous season, was a team that I will join. The stakes did not seem high even as I was rotating between cross-country practice, flag football practice, and cross-country meets. But during the flag football game that determines play-offs, I ran with the ball and twisted my body in the way that my leg didn't like. Just like that I was injured, my swollen knee and the MRI told me it was my ACL and meniscus torn. I stayed strong the first day, but I broke down crying the second night. "All my progress was lost, just like that," I was reminding myself.
In that moment, I reflected on my journey with running has been. Truely acknowledging the hard work and time that I put into myself to shape myself into someone I am sad to lose. My motivation was nonexistent because I didn't know what I was running for, but now I know who I am working for. That nonexistent motivation bled into my mind while I was waiting, I felt numb -not wanting to work out and it was hard for me to study while I was waiting home. Now that I am in physical therapy and training my everything to get back in shape to run, my experience changed the way I see my body.
I know now that I run for the high school girl who is happy that she beat her personal best after a whole season of not seeing improvement in her time. So no, I would not tell myself to not do flag football, I would tell my past self to continue to work out my body before my surgery. Make your body sweat even without running, feel the burn on your arms and core. Strengthen everything to make sure that when I am back, I only have to worry if I am overdoing it. And remember that I will be back with all the hard work I continue to put in. I will continue to run for the girl who used to take time to put sunscreen everywhere to avoid sun burn and I am excited to see how far I will go this run. And I am proud of you, my past self, for believing in me to do things that I wanted to do so I will not let this journey end here.