I’m a 17-year-old footballer and I’ve always been the hardest-working athlete I know IRL.

In 2023 I locked into a mindset of working hard no matter the outcome. I ran 4–8km before school, trained on the pitch for hours, lifted intensely, and pushed myself daily. I made my school football team for the first time, played every match at districts, and even got publicly praised by the coach at one point. Later he turned toxic, but I still kept grinding.

Mid-2023 I got injured (ankle), came back, overtrained for cross country, messed up my eating, got acid reflux, still raced anyway and placed 7th. I kept training through everything, discovered MMA during recovery, and by late 2023 / early 2024 I was playing the best football of my life.

In 2024 my parents sent me to a boarding school. I hated it, protested, but still cooked everyone in football. Came back home, joined a new school, was rusty, then worked back into form. I ran 19km at 15, joined a football academy, and became one of the best players there despite being the youngest.

I had multiple opportunities: club trials, state selection invites, coaches approaching me. I ignored or turned them down because I felt “not ready yet,” which I now regret.

In April 2025 I got patellar tendonitis. Rehab turned into overdoing it, which caused Achilles tendonitis too. It destroyed me mentally. I still played my final school tournament injured and helped my team reach the quarterfinals, even scoring and assisting.

I tried alternative treatment that likely made things worse. Since then I’ve focused on studies and upper-body training, but my football has been on pause. My studies oficially ended about a month ago,so now I have nothing to distract me from how much I miss football which has made the mental side way harder.

Now it’s 2026. I’m still injured but slowly improving. Mentally, I feel stuck while everyone else is moving forward. I know I can go pro because I know what im capable of now.I've recovered from achilees tendonitis but now it's just patellar tendonitis which I know is good news but its still hard to cope.

I’m not looking for praise ,I just need advice on how to mentally cope,what to do now and ETC.

TL;DR

17yo footballer, obsessed with hard work since 2023. Made big progress, ignored multiple opportunities, then overtrained and ended up with patellar + Achilles tendonitis. Played through injury in final school tournament. Studies ended a month ago, so there’s nothing distracting me from missing football. Still believe I can go pro but keep overdoing rehab. Need advice on rebuilding smart, not just grinding