SMACK! As I hit the floor.  “Are you okay Zoee?” asked Coach Whitney.”

It was our first volleyball game at East Grand Rapids. I knew that they were a really good team from last year, but I never expected things to happen like this. We started the first game.  All the girls were ready with our positions on the court.  Everybody was silent. It was the first serve from the other team. As soon as the serve went over we went to work, we bumped the ball, set it up then I spiked it right over but they blocked it and it came back over and hit the floor. Everyone was upset with a disgusted look. We were already losing and it was really embarrassing for our team.

We were in the second part of the game.

“Zoee go in for justice lets see if we can get ahead a little bit, Coach Whitney said.”

It was the other teams serve again and I was ready.  The ball was coming straight at me like a rocket flying in space. I blacked out and the next thing I remember was waking up and the room was spinning around me like i was on a spinning wheel.  I started asking myself questions, “Where was I,  What am I doing on the floor and why was it so quiet?”

I stumbled to the bench, had a really bad headache, and I still couldn’t remember what happened.
“Hey Marissa what happened, I said”

“It looked like you blacked out and the ball came straight down and hit you right in the face. She said”
Right after that their school nurse came and asked me a couple of questions.

“Hey Sweetie do you feel dizzy, nauseous, have a headache or anything like that, she said”.
“I have a headache and I’m dizzy but I don’t feel nauseous, I mumbled.” 

“Ok let me go talk to your coach and see what she thinks about that.”

So I went over to my mom and then the coach said that I probably shouldn’t play in case of a concussion.  After that we left because the game was still going on and it was giving me a headache. It hurt so bad it felt like somebody was hitting me in the head with a hammer.

When we got home I went right to sleep, I was so tired and couldn’t stand it. When I finally fell asleep I was up almost every hour after that.  The next day my Mom called the doctor and she said just to take it easy but still go to school and if anything gets worse then just call her and take me right into the doctor.

“Zoee just shake it off and go to school you will be fine,” I mumbled to myself.

After I got to school everything looked like it was spinning and everything was hurting my head, the lights, all the noise and I didn’t understand what was going on.

“Zoee are you okay?” Carissa asked.

“No I don’t feel too great, I said.
By the end of third hour I had to go home so I called my mom and she came and picked me up.

“I made you an appointment with the doctor to see what’s going on,  Mom exclaimed”
“Ok, I answered”

When we got there she said that I didn’t have a concussion but I can’t play volleyball or go to practice for a couple of days.

The next week my head was feeling better and I was back in the game.  Everyone was happy for me to be there, and so was I.  That week I learned to never give up even if you have a fear of getting hurt again.  Looking back it makes me think and remember  “People have it way worse somewhere else in the world.”