At a young age, grade 12 student Sergio B.H. suffered a series of injuries that disrupted his hopes for playing sports. Instead he pivoted to music, and what was initially thought of as a curse has turned into a blessing in disguise. The Bite reached out to Sergio to tell his inspiring story.
Sergio’s Childhood Dream Of Becoming A Footballer
Sergio has enjoyed football for as long as he can remember. Influenced by his father, they frequently watch football games together, and he also enjoyed playing with a small football at home. As Sergio grew older, he decided to try out for the school team. “I thought I was decent,” Sergio says. “I wanted to be professional. But then again, it was every kid’s dream.”
Sergio mainly played defense—more specifically, goalkeeper. The dream to be a professional footballer was widespread among kids his age, though he could not know at the time how his passion could spin 180 degrees around in a flash.
Three Leg Injuries at a Young Age
At the age of twelve, Sergio’s first injury happened. He was in seventh grade, playing football with a few friends.
“I went to take a shot,” Sergio says, “and my leg just folded over me.”
Sergio’s second knee injury happened again in seventh grade, right after he had recovered from his first injury. He was thirteen years old and playing basketball during PE class in the school gym with another group of friends. “I went in for a jump shot, and I landed awkwardly,” Sergio recalls, “and it just sent my knee into the wrong position.”
“I hear a little pop in my knee and I fell in excruciating pain,” Sergio says. “On the way to the nurse’s office, I limped, was put into a wheelchair and then I got driven to hospital and a casting was done on my left knee.” The pain was a torn ACL, or the anterior cruciate ligament, which is extremely vital for keeping the knee in place and safe from other injuries in the future.
After the two injuries, Sergio started doing kinetotherapy, which helped him recover faster than he was supposed to. However, it was not a remedy for the problem he had, as his doctors didn’t know he had trochlear dysplasia because they did not give him the full range of tests, such as an MRI or a tomography.
“[The doctor] just thought it was okay,” Sergio recalls, “like, I will be fine.” But he wasn’t fine.
After doing kinetotherapy for several months, Sergio began his eighth-grade year during the coronavirus pandemic. For short afternoon periods, Sergio would attend classes on-campus with his grade level classmates. During PE class, he took part in playing a game that involved running. During this game, Sergio’s “knee just folded to the side,” and he broke the end of his femur and his kneecap, as well as “one or two extra ligaments.”
After Sergio’s third injury, he and his family decided to go to another doctor, who immediately made Sergio take an MRI because these injuries were not seen as “normal” for such a small, simple movement. After the MRI, he was diagnosed with trochlear dysplasia, and he “immediately needed to” stop playing sports because it is one of the more severe cases.
Finding a New Passion
As Sergio was healing from his injuries, he started to rediscover music, as it was one of his old hobbies while growing up, before any of the sports injuries. He started seriously pursuing it as a passion after his third major injury and the realization that he could no longer play sports, and so he began attending saxophone classes.
“I was practicing probably twice a week, an hour each, but I kind of did the same thing every time, Sergio says. “It was just a little bit of a warm-up and then just playing songs the teacher would give me to practice.”
At first, he didn’t find much interest in music, but as he had more time on his hands as he healed from his injuries, his interest grew and grew. Sergio experimented with many different types of music genres with his saxophone, such as classical, tango, and bossa nova, before ultimately settling on jazz.
The main reason he felt more connected to jazz was that “it was an escape from reality.” It helped Sergio think of other things “beyond knee pain or about missing football.”
The Road to Berklee
As Sergio started getting more serious about music, he decided to attend a Berklee Music summer program in Valencia, Spain. “I enrolled myself in the program,” Sergio says, “and it was a great learning experience and a great experience overall.”
Sergio performed live in the city center of Valencia and also recorded music in a music studio. One of the benefits of the program was the offering of free audition slots to join the school. On July 20, 2024, Sergio signed up for the audition.
“Originally, I was hesitant to audition because I thought I was underprepared, and either way, it was very expensive, and it still is. But my dad told me, ‘The audition is free; go for it.'”
Sergio admits being very nervous about this audition; however, in the end, everything turned out great to the point that on October 15, 2024, he got an acceptance letter from Berklee, with a scholarship offer included.
How it Worked Out in the End
In the end, Sergio’s journey shows how determination and adaptability can turn challenges into opportunities. Despite his three unfortunate injuries that happened in rapid succession over two academic years, one after the other, he made sure to take that as an opportunity to try other things, such as music. Sergio explored different genres and moved forward from his surgeries, and now, he is accepted into a great university thanks to trying out different things.
“I found music, and now I have a scholarship in one of the best music universities in the world,” Sergio says. He also mentions that students should be resilient, no matter what happens, and always try to push through, as you never know what the outcome will be.
Sergio adds: “The path is never going to be fully straight. There are going to be twists and turns.”