Last night was the last soccer game of the outdoor spring/summer season for E. I was watching from the sidelines as E pushed the ball up again and was cheering her on when in a rush for the ball she hit the ground hard amongst a group of girls. I couldn’t quite see what happened but rather than get up and rejoin the play she stayed down.
She doesn’t go down easy this girl of mine. I’ve seen her take spectacular stumbles and been hit hard on many occasions and she rebounds up again in a flash already on the run. She can be tough as nails but she also plays hard and those that play the hardest are the most likely to get injured.
It’s the worst sports moment in the life of any parent, watching from the sidelines as all the players take a knee and every ones focus goes to one hurt child, your hurt child. She is so close yet so far, completely out of reach, you have to fight every instinct not to run out on the field and leave it to the bench mom.
I watched as she was able to get up and walk to the sidelines. From the far side of the field I could see tears streaming down her face and she was clutching her wrist with the other hand. My eyes went to the bench mom hoping desperately for a thumbs up indicating it wasn’t as bad as it looked and instead got a wave indicating I should come to the bench.
The field seems so much bigger when walking around it during a game to check on your injured kid. Walking around the field my mind went instantly to where the best place I should take her on a Sunday at half past four. I had already figured this was going to result in a very long night.
When I got to her she still had tears streaming down her face an ice pack on her wrist. Sitting beside her and taking her hand in mine you could instantly tell she had hurt it badly. Already swollen to nearly twice its size she wasn’t able to move her wrist and it had a funny little lump to it.
Turns out she fell on her wrist badly and then was stepped on by one of the biggest players on the other team. Before the end of the night you could clearly identify the cleat marks in her hand and wrist.
I wish I could say we sat in the ER for nothing however a few hours later we left Children’s hospital her wrist broken and in a cast.
