The trials and tribulations that we go through mold us sometimes into the person that we are. The stronger test of our will through many times is how we come out of those trials and tribulations. The measurement of passion can be measured with the grit we do to overcome and possibly get to a stronger person than we originally were.
The seniors of 2021 have had this challenge prevail and when you look back at their first two years of living normal and total chaos their junior year and then perseverance in a strange and odd sports year their senior year was that shows their guts and determination. Let me tell you a story of one of those seniors whose trial could have cost her life and the tribulations were overcome with grit and a desire to finish out strong.
Calvary’s goalkeeper, Audrey Baldwin, went through this kind of trial her junior year. Now before you say soccer is nothing but a lot of running and kicking the ball. I would argue that you’ve never seen the beautiful game and the brutality that comes with it. They run miles in a game, players that outrun their opponents sometimes get a cleat down their back of the calf. Not to mention the tackles and concussions that have come out for players. It can be a rough sport.
Calvary playing a fellow rival team in a typical fashion. A shot is taken and Baldwin stops the shot in her normal goalkeeping duties lays on the ball. An overzealous play continues kicking at the ball because of a delayed whistle for the play to end. Repeated kicks to try to get the grip away from the goalkeeper. Once the play was over, Baldwin was having issues breathing and heard gurgling. She tried to go back in the game but was unable to stand. She stayed on the sideline to watch the remainder of the match.
Baldwin attributed the game as just a rough game as she felt decent and went out with one of her friends afterward.
The next day was when she noticed something wasn’t right. She asked for ice for her shoulder and stomach which was not a normal routine for Baldwin. Her mother’s concern sent her to the quick care. Baldwin had full intentions of playing in the afternoon’s game. At the quick care, they performed the normal tests, and they wanted to do X-rays but Baldwin was unable to stand. Her liver enzymes were elevated and they directed her to the hospital. At LSU, they performed scans and other tests. Cindy Baldwin, Audrey’s mother, recalled what the trauma surgeon had told her. “She had internal bleeding, ” Cindy Baldwin said. “She didn’t have any broken bones in her face or shoulder. They said if we had come in the night before she would have been immediately put in ICU. It looked like it had stopped actively bleeding they didn’t want to do surgery but they kept her there for two days observation.” They found a 7 cm laceration of her liver completely across. On a scale of five, the injury was classified as a four which had only been seen in car wrecks.
Initially, the doctors had told Baldwin no sports for six months back in January. This would have put her back around July. This would not fly with Baldwin.
Audrey was then allowed to go home and being still is not one of her best attributes. “I hate to be sitting down,” Baldwin said. “I want to do something.” She was motivated to not let the situation how her back. She was allowed to go back to school the next week but with stipulations, like she had to wear sweat pants and no weight at all. So her best friend Blake became her personal assistant.
Baldwin began trying to work back into shape slowly in small steps. “I just tried little stuff like jumping jacks or walking,” Baldwin said. She was determined to make it back in time for volleyball and eventually soccer.
Volleyball was a wake-up call for her. “The first practice I thought I was going to die,” Baldwin said. “I’m not cut out for this right now. I was scared something was going to happen. I was going to fall flat out. I was terrified I was going to fall and reinjure my liver and that was it.” At the beginning of the season, she was afraid to dive for the ball, but by season beginning of the season, she was better about it. Seeing her teammates ahead of her and not dealing with the traumatic injury that she had. She pushed through and came home sore and tired every day. The Calvary volleyball player became an all-district first team on volleyball with her specialty in creating assists for the 18-2 Lady Cavaliers who had a historic season.
There was no doubt that she would return between the goalposts. Soccer season started back and Baldwin was determined that she was going to be in the goal of doing what she loved since she was 4 years old. Making it to the season, her first true test in the goal was North Louisiana powerhouse, Loyola. Baldwin took the shots to the face and bumped around like any other goalie. The Loyola game helped her get more comfortable in the goal again. More bumps and bruises were to come. She recalled her first tournament against Benton. “The first tournament at Benton she got laid out. I thought I had broken my back and I was rolled up like a burrito.” Audrey had gone low for the ball and the Benton player had gone high for the collision.
The Calvary goalkeeper made it through the season including facing the team that had put her through the trials. The season passed along and the Lady Cavs were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. When the final referee whistle had blown to end the playoff game, she knew it was over but had survived the season. “End of the season was hard,” Baldwin said. “I had played soccer my whole life. I wasn’t happy that it was over, but I was happy I didn’t get hurt again. When I saw that the time had run out, I knew it was going to sting a little”. Audrey made all-district goalkeeper honors for her senior season.
Audrey now has the ambition to go to ULM and study to be a pharmacist.
So what can you take away from this story according to Baldwin? “What I learned the most was don’t let anything stop doing what you love to do,” Baldwin said. “If you want it, go get it.”
In closing, in writing this story I had no intentions of making her story a personification of what our seniors of 2021 were to face. This in no way diminishes her extraordinary story. It shows the grit and determination this group of student-athlete had to endure. I must disclose that I have a son that is of the class of 2021 at Airline High School and played on the offensive line for the Vikings. I’ve covered hundreds of sporting events in my six years of writing and nothing compares to the nervousness when your own child is participating. I understand the uncertainty that these seniors went into this school year. Simple questions like would I see my friends again before I graduate? How long before we’re back learning from home again? Will we have sports or will they be wiped out like the spring sports were last year? All valid questions and worries of that final year for these wonderful kids. When they finally got the call to play, it was pure joy. Quarantine killed a few weeks for some teams, but the value of each game for those players was priceless. They played as if it were a normal sports season. Some sports did have a normal season, while others hobbled along. In the end, though, not a single sport was canceled and the determination of these athletes showed through. Their heart and the love of the game through their courage to finish. Congratulations Class of 2021, you are the class of perseverance.
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