Everyone knows that football is a contact sport, and can be very dangerous. Football can cause a number of injuries. For Koven Burkle, his football career ended his sophomore year with a broken femur.

¨I couldn’t feel it and thought it was my ankle because my foot was facing the wrong way,” said Burkle.

While some broken bones don’t need surgery, Burkle’s did. 

¨During surgery they put a rod the length of my femur and four screws in. The day after surgery they made me walk to watch WVU practice”, said burkle.

With a long road to full recovery ahead, Burkle knew just how he was going to get through it.

¨I was able to walk the next morning, but I was not aloud to do much more than that for the next four months. Having my friends around me to help me get to class and my family supporting me, taking me to my appointments, and being there at home got me through those four months,” said Burkle.

Long term injuries can change how a person lives, most of the time people may never fully recover from bad injuries. 

¨I had to learn to walk normally again and it ended football for me forever, plus I have to live with a titanium rod in my leg for the rest of my life. The bone is still cracked, but there is enough bone growth around it to make it stable,” said Burkle.

Now Burkle is a senior, and although he isn’t involved in sports anymore he is thankful for everything football gave him while he was playing, and he has figured out who he is without football in his life.

“I’ve been able to keep up my grades better. I’ve also found my friends, and I get to fish more,” said Burkle.