excellence | it is the only way.
My worst nightmare happened. The coach blew the whistle to start the drill at practice. I exploded forward out of my linebacker stance and planted my left leg in the ground in preparation to collide with my teammate.
Then it happened.
The deeper my foot planted into the grass field, the slower time became. The sound decreased to silence. My knee bent inwards with the crackling sound of a tree branch snapping and then returned to damaged alignment. The inevitable collision with my teammate ensued, and I hit the ground. I knew something was wrong, but I disqualified my worst fear of a torn ACL because it didn’t hurt enough to be my nightmare; I guess no amount of pain would have. “I am good... I am good... I am good,” I said to myself, inhaling and exhaling slowly as I cautiously rose to my feet and gingerly walked to the athletic table to be tested.
“Ooooo Christian, I am so sorry. You have torn your ACL,” the athletic trainer said. My body responded before my mind, and I began to cry, while I thought “Why did this happen to me?”
Yet even in the depths of this despair, I still focused on the seeds of hope having seen Kobe Bryant make two free throws on a torn Achilles. “If Kobe can make two free throws after tearing his Achilles and walk off on his strength, I can walk on my strength for the rest of the day on a torn ACL.” I did just that walking to the end of the day before my knee swelled up and I couldn’t stand any longer.
Now, it was time to embody the Mamba Mentality as I attacked my rehab inspired to return to USC Football greater than I came in. The inspiration I gained from watching and reading stories about Kobe inspired me to find life in despair, hope in hopelessness, and light in the darkness.
Excellence often hides in the excruciating. The path to discover the power inside is paved by pain. This pain isn’t to destroy but to designate. The pain we experience signifies the place of our power.
This power is where excellence lives. It is the only way.
