How an Injury Sparked My Intellectual Curiosity by Zachary

How an Injury Sparked My Intellectual Curiosity by Zachary - February 2025 Scholarship Essay

All my life, I have had a passion for sports. I played soccer throughout my childhood, transitioned my focus to basketball in middle school, and played every sport I could in high school. I really enjoyed these sports, but I was never really competitive. They were a lot of fun, and I liked being part of a team. That’s why it’s so strange to me that sports led me to my academic pursuits.

Injury is a major component of sports and is more common the higher the level one goes in a sport. As you get older, you get faster and stronger, and so does everyone. So the chances of injury increasing makes sense. It comes with the territory. Knowing that is one thing, but going through a serious injury is all together different. In my junior year of high school, I dislocated my shoulder while making a tackle in football. Within the next five months following that injury, I had managed to dislocate my shoulder doing everything from lacrosse to, embarrassingly, bowling. When I consulted a doctor, they suggested surgery, and I was crushed. I lost my senior year lacrosse season because of my shoulder.

As depressing and frustrating my surgery and recovery was, I saw another side to sports, rehabilitation and injury prevention. Two months after my surgery, I began working with a physical therapist making slow movements without resistance. Following my therapist's plan, I slowly incorporated resistance bands, and then I worked light weights into my routine. I worked at it every day and began seeing results around the three-month mark. By four months, I was back to light upper body weight training, and by six, I was back to around ninety percent strength. I have no doubt that without physical therapy and the support my therapist provided me, I would have an extremely compromised shoulder that would limit me in everyday life, let alone athletics.

This peek into physical therapy and the value it could bring to a young athlete’s life significantly influenced my educational goals. It’s inspired me to get a degree related to physical therapy or exercise physiology. I want to know more about the body, how the muscles and tendons and bones work together, how excitement can spike chemical reactions that can enhance performance and stress the body, and how the structures of our bodies allow for healing and growth. The more I learn, the more my curiosity grows into things like nutrition, the benefits of rest and sleep, and how the mind can help us and hurt us as we work to overcome injuries.

My rehabilitation process kindled in me an interest in the mechanics of the human body, and it has allowed me to empathize with others facing physical challenges. I want to make a direct impact on other people’s lives just like my physical therapist. I see myself working closely with athletes, providing personalized rehabilitation programs to help them recover from injuries, and showing them how to optimize their health and strengthen their minds for a lifetime of well-being.