For most of my life I had been focused on one thing, goal, and desire. This obsession was football and getting to the highest level possible. I had been playing since I was little, then into high school, and saw myself playing through college. After my junior season of high school, I transferred to a new school hoping to get more scholarship offers. This decision paid off, and at the end of my senior year I had 10 scholarship offers and committed to LSU. I eventually signed in February 2019, and enrolled in June.
Before leaving for college I was aware of numerous back injuries that started my sophomore year in high school, but I wanted to push through since this was my dream and football had been my life. Once I arrived at LSU and went through my physical exam, my back was worse than expected. After examination, it was determined that I shouldn’t play anymore because I could further injury myself and become paralyzed. I was very disappointed in myself and felt like all my hard work was down the drain, but at the same time relived that I was free to do whatever I want now.
This is my humanities moment because although all the work I had been putting into to one goal was over, I came to a realization of all the things I had missed out on growing up and what’s really important. This gave me the opportunity to spend more time with family, and not be 700 miles away. It also gave me a chance to still be a student and go to college, while having the opportunity to work for my father in the family business, which I never had the chance to before because I was so dedicated to my sport. So, what could have been a dark time, turned out to be a blessing in disguise and a great humanities moment.
– Connor Vonhof (Student/Entrepreneur)