For almost 17 years, my life has been revolved around baseball day in and day out. I never really played any other sports (besides basketball for about six to seven months). I worked hard every day, for the most part, and never looked back. I been hurt all the time since my Little League days back in 2001 in North Torrance, Ca; elbow problems, shoulder injuries, anything you can think of on the right arm. But thanks to my mother, she was always there to fix the pain and comfort me.
In high school, I was really never hurt or injured, although during my first practice my freshmen year, I miss a fly ball in the outfield and the ball hit me straight in the head. Then, I was always self-conscious about getting hurt and played scared at time, to be honest, because I never wanted to play injured again.
Then comes my college years. Long story short, I get cut from my first ever junior college I attended, but the coach helped me out by finding me another school to play at. Until I had a chance to play everyday in college, I had never took lifting serious. I had about three and a half months before being away from home and playing baseball so I became a member at a local gym and started to lift everyday.
January 2009: The Snowball Effect. It was literally less than a month away from playing my first game with the new school I started to attend, Barstow Community College. I was in good shape. Felt stronger than I ever was and was also up for any challenges that came my way.
The team wasn't even done with our first week of practice and I sprained my left ankle running the bases. I asked myself, "What did I deserve to get hurt?" I worked hard and gave all I got every single day. I rehabbed for the remaining days until our opening day and my ankle got better within that time and was ready to play the first game.
I remember it was Feb 12, 2009 and I was playing second base against L.A. City College. During one of the innings I was receiving a double play and as I made the throw, the runner slid to the base late and I landed on my shoulders in a awkward position. At the time I didn't even think about it but when I looked back, this is when a serious shoulder injury would come to haunt me.
Feb 13, 2009. I was a runner on third base. I think I was the only runner on base, I forgot, but I made a base running error by running home when it was hit right to the third baseman and it threw the ball home. I slid to home head first and that's when I really started to feel my shoulder pain come to me.
The pain progressively gotten worse. It was March 19, 2009, that was when I played my last game as a starter that year. My shoulder got to a point where I couldn't even lift it up. Couldn't even throw a baseball 5 feet. I felt like all the work I put in was a waste.
That was probably the most frustrated I been in my life. I had a couple more injuries after I transferred back to the first college I attended, El Camino College (Yes, I tried out again, but this time I made the team). I played two years there (red shirted one year) and both year I had elbow problems.
Now I'm sitting here at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at my desk typing this at 1:16 am about my injuries. Why, you ask? It is because I worked so hard day in and day out to get here and I am sitting down right now with a strained shoulder, where if I try to raise my arm up, it hurts like no other. What did I do to deserve this? Why me? Did it have to be now, going into the 5 week of our season? I took care of my body to prevent injuries and I get injured...
A fellow teammate once told me that everything happens for a reason.
I sit here, frustrated asking myself, "What is the reason for this?"....
-Jun
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