While playing in the Denver City basketball tournament, senior Madison Froman got a rebound and was about to turn. She saw another player and turned quickly the other direction. Her knee buckled and popped. Soon after, she received the news that changed her senior year. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and had at least six months of recovery time. This ended her season and her high school basketball career.

Injuries like these cause athletes to cope with the inability to play and force them to deal with injuries and find new paths.

“It just never seemed real to me,” Froman said. “I would go to the basketball games and sit on the bench. It never hit me that my senior year of basketball was over. I can’t explain the hurt I was feeling.”

The game that ended Froman’s season haunted her.

“There were many sleepless nights just replaying that play in my mind,” Froman said. “[I was] wondering how it could have turned out differently.”

The injury changed Froman’s life and her plans.

“My goals for this basketball season were to be a great leader, win district and come out with a district honor,” Froman said. “Now my goals are walking and finishing rehab.”

When Froman is feeling low, she turns to her family and faith.

“I have really had to rely on family and friends to help me get through this time,” Froman said. “God has been a huge part in all of this. He has given me the strength to still go to the practices and games and cheer on my teammates.”

Froman said she has a new outlook on life: Cherish every moment.

“My testimony has changed,” Froman said. “I can tell others and help them get through these tough times because I have been there.”

Froman has taken life lessons from her experience.

“One lesson that I learned was that you can’t put everything you have into one thing,” Froman said. “Someday it will be taken away from you.”

Froman also learned to enjoy every moment.

“Everyone talks about shining their senior year,” Froman said. “You have to play each year or each game as though you are shining because you might not get your senior year, or even another game, to shine.”

Sophomore Trevor Greenfield faced similar hardships when he got a tibial plateau fracture in his leg and learned he would not be able to play basketball anymore.

“I cannot play basketball anymore because of it,” Greenfield said. “I might be able to run track later on.”

Greenfield said that when his injury happened in the Hobbs gym last season, all that went through his mind was the pain. Afterward he came to the realizations.

“I realized anything that you love can be taken away from you in an instant,” Greenfield said. “Keep your head up…and always give it your all.”

Greenfield has changed his outlook on the way he does things.

“I now do things 100 percent all the time,” Greenfield said. “If anything happens, I won’t have any regrets from not giving it my all.”

Junior Hunter Weishuhn ruptured a disk in his lower spine over the summer. This injury forced him to sit out of games for as many as three weeks at a time.

“At first I just wondered ‘why?’,” Weishuhn said. “Then I just realized that God does have a plan for each and every one of us, and it happened for a reason.”

Weishuhn didn’t realize how hard not playing would be.

“When I was sitting out and not getting to be out there on the court with my brothers, it just really hit me,” Weishuhn said. “I came to the realization that it really was a huge, huge part of my life, and it was extremely hard to accept that I had to sit out so long.”

Weishuhn’s goals were to do what he needed for the team to get a district championship, and he said his goals didn’t change through the injury.

“My path has always been to work and do the small things and extra things to strengthen myself and the team,” Weishuhn said. “I stayed on that path through it all.”

Weishuhn’s outlook changed during his injury.

“I really understood how thankful we should all be for the things God has blessed us with,” Weishuhn said. “When they are taken away, you truly realize how fortunate you really are to get to do the things you do.”

Senior Hannah Everitt’s sports career ended due to Chiari malformation and three holes in her heart.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Chiari malformations are structural defects in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance. Normally, the cerebellum and parts of the brain stem sit in an indented space at the lower rear of the skull, above the foramen magnum. When part of the cerebellum is located below the foramen magnum, it is called a Chiari malformation.

“I found out the beginning of my sophomore year,” Everitt said. “I haven’t played since.”

Everitt was dispirited by the news of her condition.

“I was very discouraged, but I knew God had a plan,” Everitt said. “It just took me a while to see it.”

Everitt realized that there were other things in life.

“Although I loved playing sports, I realized there are greater things in the world,” Everitt said. “Sports weren’t something I wanted to do after high school.”

Everitt turned to faith in the rough patches.

“I’ve completely relied on God through this,” Everitt said. “I won’t trade this experience for anything in the world. Although it has changed my life physically and mentally, it has changed me spiritually the most–for the better.”

Everitt went through a range of emotions during her experience, but she ultimately found faith.

“At first I was very angry because it was during volleyball season which was my favorite,” Everitt said. “The hardest thing for me to look back on is after every year or season was over I would tell myself that it would be okay because I will be back next year, but obviously I never got to play volleyball or run track again.”

What these athletes have learned through their experiences is advice for other athletes in the future.

“I know it seems like the end of the world now,” Froman said. “Trust me, basketball was all that I have ever known, and just one pop, and I’m done for the season. Giving up is easy. Give yourself a challenge and hang in there. High school is a small part compared to your whole life. I know you think you can’t get through it now, but it gets easier. I promise. There are far far greater things ahead of you, than any you leave behind.”