Either there’s something in the water, or this week just came with a tough pill to swallow in terms of being a coach.

While cheerleading is inevitably a difficult and risky sport like many others, I pride myself on having an extremely limited amount of injuries each season. I go over safety rules numerous times, teach each athlete how to properly spot a stunt, always ask them if they have questions and never let them execute a skill they’re not comfortable with.

Yet in the past three days I’ve had a fractured ankle, two concussions and a busted lip. One of those injuries happened less than an hour before tonight’s game started, and another happened in the third quarter right on the sidelines in front of a bleacher full of parents. Delightful to say the least.

It was stressful, scary and exhausting. Yet as I drove home at the end of quite a long day, I felt so proud of the girls I coach. They adjusted, rolled with the punches, and were attentive and focused as I gave them a new game plan. From the outside looking in, they didn’t miss a beat.

At the end of the day, you can take as many precautions as you want, lay out rules, cover all of your bases and then do it again just to be sure. And guess what? Bad circumstances still happen.

Many of life’s misfortunes simply can’t be prevented. So when curveballs hit you and alter your original course, there are always two choices: stay down and sulk, or stand up and readjust. I’ll give you two guesses as to which option I prefer, but I bet you’ll only need one.