Good Post: The box that made me more well rounded – limitation

I shared a few weeks ago that my daughter started – or actually relaunched – a blog. She’s had some good posts, but this one is pretty insightful.

My blog contains post primarily about church work (primarily student ministry and youth culture), about books I’ve read and my family.  The past few years have contained many posts about basketball and Syd’s journey through high school, AAU and college.

As you will read in her post, injury has altered her intended course in the game of basketball.  But what she has learned – and is learning – is pretty cool to read.

In her post, The Box That Made Me More Well Rounded – Limitation, she begins this way:

The other day, someone asked me about my basketball season that I underwent this past year. Specifically, their question was, “what was it like playing on one leg?” Well, if you don’t know me I have two legs, don’t worry. But, for those who do know me know that I have had 5 different knee surgeries/operations on my left knee. Some were simple ACL replacements and some were much more extensive, involving reconstructions of ligaments, bone resurfacings, and a screw removal… I have some sweet scars. The main problem with my knee is that I don’t have much of a medial meniscus or much healthy cartilage left, both of which function as types of cushions for your bones and joint in the knee.  My knee hurts after most any moderate activity and swells at the sight of any basketball court for longer than 30 minutes.  So when I decided that I wanted to continue to play I knew that I would be “limited.”

Read the rest on Syd’s blog – divinesixght

 

 

Syd Likely to Red Shirt with ACL Surgery

While we are still waiting for a second opinion on whether Sydney will undergo surgery, it appears that her freshmen season at U of L will be interrupted. She has been having some soreness in the repaired knee and experienced some pain while landing in practice a couple of weeks ago. She had a scan done and it seems that surgery is in her near future.

Coach Walz made mention of it on his radio show last week and the news took to Twitter and other social media. I was a little surprised that our local newspaper, the Wilmington News-Journal, picked up on it. They talked about Syd in an article which featured another Clinton County athlete who is looking to take the next step of playing football after college.

Mark Huber’s article was well-written and pointed to Syd’s faith as she moves toward potential surgery and rehab. Here is a portion of the article that appeared in the November 14, 2014, edition of the News-Journal.

I also ran across a nugget from the Louisville Courier Journal, via Google-alert, that reported Sydney Brackemyre will miss the upcoming college basketball season because of a knee injury.

The LCJ story reported Louisville head coach Jeff Walz said during his radio show that Brackemyre may not have had a major impact on the Lady Cardinals season in 2014-15 but the knee injury and subsequent surgery puts an end to her season before the first official game.

Brackemyre, a 6-1 forward, is a 2014 graduate of Clinton-Massie High School.

Both of these athletes have a strong faith in God and even though their news is on opposite ends of the spectrum, you can be certain both will take the news in stride — the good for Rollins who will not take anything for granted and keep working just as hard and the bad for Brackemyre who will likely work harder to return to form — and continue on the path they believe God has set for them.

Coming Back From Injury

In the past I’ve re-posted some information from Jim Dabbelt’s blog. He does a great job promoting girls high school basketball in the state of Ohio.

On October 25 he had a post about some of the girls in our area coming back from injury. It included Syd and one of her Angel teammates, Olivia Philpot. He did a nice job with the article and is a great voice for the girls in our area. Stop by his blog to keep up with what’s happening this season.

Everyone knows that Christmas is set for December 25 as it is every year, when the small children run downstairs to rip open their presents before the crack of dawn.

For several young ladies around Ohio, it will seem like Christmas morning as they wake today, because they know that all of their hard work they put into the game of basketball all summer long is about to pay off. Today is the day a lot of us have been waiting for.

Today…. is the start of basketball season.

Girls’ basketball teams can begin practice today across Ohio, and while several girls look at this as the beginning of a new season, a few area girls are chomping at the bit even more, as they prepare to prove to everyone that they are back.

It has been a rough year for injuries, as several girls around Ohio are out to make a statement to everyone that they are back… and better than ever.

Seniors Sydney Brackemyre, Olivia Philpot, and Amy Bullimore are all recovering from knee injuries, while sophomore Sydney Bates had shoulder surgery in the fall and is ready to return to the court soon.

Brackemyre, a 6-1 senior at Clinton Massie who verballed to the University of Louisville, suffered a season-ending ACL tear on December 29 of last year, and while she has suffered through the long road to recovery, she knows the extra time she has been away will ultimately be worth it.

“My recovery seemed like it was never going to end, but now I’m back and playing,” Brackemyre said yesterday. “It feels good to know I had the extra couple of months to recover. Most people come back from an ACL team in about 6-7 months, but in my case it was a full nine months.”

The Massie senior was frustrated waiting to get back, but she understands it will help her prepare better for a return.

“My doctor was very cautious with the things he would allow me to do, which was entirely frustrating at the time, but I know it will pay off,” she said. “I have had so much support from family and friends that told me the waiting would be worth it.”

Brackemyre has been working on her physical part of the game while she has been out of action. She stated she is stronger than she has ever been, and worked on the things she was allowed to. The future Cardinal will be wearing a brace until December.

Philpot had her ACL surgery on July 5, as the Middletown Madison senior will miss most if not all of her senior season. Her goal to return in January will be based on a functional assessment next month by Dr. James Klosterman, and that will determine if a return mid-season is even going to be reasonable.

Philpot, who opened up her recruiting back up after choosing not to attend Youngstown State as earlier planned, has been doing physical therapy and training at Ignition for the past several months, making solid progress each week. Philpot understands the risk of returning too soon, and knows there is a bitter prize down the road, playing basketball in college.

Bullimore also hopes for a strong senior year after suffering the same injury last season. The 6-1 senior, who has yet to choose a college, was recently cleared to begin playing again, and knows it has been a long road back.

“I did rehab at least three times per week with my therapist, but everyday by myself,” Bullimore said, very much looking forward to the season to begin. “Sometimes it was so painful or hard I didn’t think it would ever get easier.”

“I’m not sure there was a day that I didn’t find a hoop to shoot on, and continued to improve my shot daily,” she added, who credited Dr. Shaw, therapist Shaun Tubbs and trainer Tammy Pollack with a huge role in her recovery. “I had the right support from my coach and others to get my mind off the setback and look to the bigger picture.”

She also learned a lot about herself while she was on the sidelines watching her team last season.

“Recovery played a big role with my personality,” she said. “It helped me to learn what it’s really like to be a teammate. I sat on the sideline cheering on my teammates, with a sense of pride and urgency to get back on the court.”

Bates, one of Ohio’s top sophomores, also looks for a successful return after suffering a shoulder injury this summer that hampered her play through her summer season. After battling the pain for the month of July, she finished the summer with shoulder surgery on July 31. She had the ligaments and cartilage of her shoulder stabilized was told that recovery would take her 12-16 weeks.

For the first six weeks of rehab, Bates would be forced to wear an immobilizer the majority of each day, but even though she couldn’t do much to work on her game, Bates would keep her stamina up by walking 6-8 miles each evening. She also spent time ball handling and shooting with her non-surgical arm.

Bates was cleared to run at eight weeks, and for the next four weeks, she would cardio at least 90 minutes per day, and work on therapy. This past Tuesday, Bates was cleared to do all aspects of basketball except for contact. During the last three months, Bates has learned a lot about motivation, commitment, and effort and never to take your health for granted.

Also, Alter’s Emma Bockrath, one of Ohio’s top players in her class, looks to put her ACL injury behind her and come out strong and leave her mark on the new basketball season.

For these five, plus others recovering from injuries, today is the beginning of new hope and new dreams.

ACL Recovery Update

Several have asked how Syd is getting along with her recovery from surgery. She had a follow-up at her surgeon’s office today. They removed the stitches and checked on her progress. Overall everything looks good. He was pleased with the surgery itself and her progress to this point. Physical therapy has been going well and the team at Drayer are great.

She received one small piece of bad news today – she has to stay in the brace and on crutches for three more weeks. She was ready to be off the crutches, but Doc wants to protect the MCL as it heals. There was some damage to it when she tore the ACL, but nothing that required surgery.

Her surgeon is a pretty straight shooter and said that her knee looks good. She just needs to make sure she doesn’t screw it up (those were his words). He even gave her a shirt that says Beacon Orthopaedic on the front and this quote on the back: “Don’t be stupid.” Her job is to follow the therapy they have for her. I’m sure she will, but she was definitely ready to lose the crutches.

While at her appointment today, we ran into another young lady who plays high school ball and had ACL repair surgery yesterday. A Clinton-Massie boys player tore his ACL this weekend playing ball. Hate to see anyone go through that, but seems to be a pretty common injury anymore. Grateful for a good surgeon and therapy team to help them get better and back on the court.

ACL Recovery

Back on December 29, Syd tore her ACL and had surgery to repair it on Jan. 8. Therapy is underway, the incision is healing and she is working toward getting back on the court.

Once you or a family member go through a specific illness or injury, you become a little more aware of those who have experienced similar circumstances. Adrian Petersen brought some inspiration at the end of the NFL regular season with a spectacular season after coming back from an ACL injury. Sadly, there are many young ladies – even in our area – that have suffered similar injuries.

Just a couple of days ago, the Dayton Daily News ran a story of a young lady from Ohio, Konner Harris, who has recently returned to playing after tearing her ACL. I read it, shared it with Syd and thought it was worth posting. It’s a testament to that young lady’s work to return to playing and good motivation for others who are in a similar situation.

The first game of Konner Harris’ senior girls basketball season was one for the record books.
The Sidney High School guard made a statement by scoring a school-record 49 points against Russia on Nov. 23.
“I had no clue until the end of the game,” Harris said. “Coach had her pep talk, then came back over and gave me a big hug and told me I broke the record. I had no clue.”
While the game gave Harris a permanent place in the Sidney record book, it also represented closure and a new beginning.
Harris earned a new place as one of the leading scorers in the Greater Western Ohio Conference. She has led the league in scoring most of this season, averaging 21.5 points, just ahead of Fair-born’s Alexis Gassion.
It also signaled a full recovery from an ACL tear she suffered during soccer as a junior.
“It was our last scrimmage before the season,” Harris said. “I came down wrong and it all ended there.”
She was expected to miss most of the 2011-12 basketball season.
“She had surgery a week after (the injury) and everyone I talked to, the doctors, they all said it would usually take six months,” Sidney coach Megan Mummey said. “We didn’t think she would be back until the first tournament game, but she came back in less than four months. To do that is just incredible.”
Harris was dedicated to recovery, undergoing physical therapy four times a week while also attending practices and games. When she wasn’t at games or in therapy, she was rehabbing.
Her work ethic paid off in other ways. Harris was determined to get a Division I college scholarship, something scouts and coaches thought was not possible. She improved her all-around game, playing with Dayton Metro in AAU and working out hard in the offseason. Chicago State offered and she signed a letter of intent.
“There were a lot of people who doubted her in a way,” Mummey said. “They didn’t think she could play D-I after tearing her ACL. She worked really hard and began to complete all the aspects of her game. Last year I said her defense was a little sluggish, [and] she wouldn’t be able to play at college, let alone D-I, if she didn’t improve. She spent the whole preseason last year working on defense.”
The improvement hasn’t just been personal. The Yellow Jackets were 4-17 last season. Sidney was 9-5 going into Wednesday’s game at Troy. At 2-1 in the GWOC North, Sidney was one game behind Troy (3-0). Harris made another career mark along the way, surpassing 1,000th career points against St. Marys on Dec. 29.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Harris said. “It feels a lot better than it has. I think we just got better as a team and everyone has started to click, including our leadership. I hope we can keep it going.”

Torn ACL

Syd’s high school season came to an abrupt end Saturday night, Dec. 29 during the County Tournament. Early in the 1st quarter she came up a little gimpy and went out of the game. She came back in and a few minutes later, went down again trying to get a rebound. She grabbed her left knee and was in obvious pain.

The trainers were right on top of things, checked things out, started treatment and had an appointment for her for an MRI before we left the training room. On Monday, we found out the damage – a torn ACL. She also has a strained MCL and a tear in her meniscus. Fortunately she was able to get into a well-known physician who works with a lot of the Cincinnati Reds players. Surgery is scheduled for January 8.

I know that she will work hard on her rehab and in a matter of time, she will be back. She is surrounded by good friends, good coaches and great resources for both surgery and rehab. I think most players and parents have that thought of an injury happening at some point. You hope it doesn’t happen, but we’ve seen many female athletes come back from similar injuries. If anything, Adrian Peterson is a great example of an athlete coming back from a huge injury.

I’m grateful for those who have surrounded Syd already and will be a source of encouragement and advice to her and to us. Looking forward to seeing her back on the court down the road.