Soccer star Brianna Stelzer will go down in Lakeville South High School history as not just a talented athlete, but a player with exemplary sportsmanship and a completely unbreakable spirit.
During a state quarterfinal game, the Minnesota freshman team member played a full 40 minutes of the game on a sprained ankle, according to the Star Tribune. Thinking it was just a sprain, Stelzer got taped up at halftime and made it through the second half of the game. It wasn't until she was at the hospital after the game that she discovered the injury was in fact a broken ankle.
Lakeville South girls' soccer coach Dan Flood called Steltzer's feat "incredible."
"It's like a different breed of person. Some people just have this will or they're just physically cut out for it," Flood told the Star Tribune. "She's just a different kind of athlete. They don't come around a whole lot."
Now a senior with a scholarship offer to the University of Wisconsin, Stelzer has also suffered from a torn ACL twice -- but again, the injuries haven't been enough to stop her. She ended her high school career with an impressive 17 goals and eight assists.
Another young athlete of a 'different kind,' track star Megan Vogel, showed her character at a recent state competition. When her competitor fell just meters from the finish line, Vogel stopped and carried the runner across the finish line -- ahead of herself.
And in another recent show of near-superhuman determination, 13-year-old Landon Light -- who is paralyzed from the chest down -- overcame his own physical obstacles to make the swim team and be competitive against more experienced athletes.
His coach told CBS: "At the first meet, I cried. I think everybody in the stands was absolutely blown away."
Are you impressed by these amazing athletes? Do you know a sports star who has shown incredible determination? Share your thoughts in the comments below or tweet @HuffPostTeen.