Student athletes are often the victims of unfortunate and unusual injuries while playing the sports they love
By Andy Matarrese
The ancient sport (nay, art) of sumo wrestling, along with all sports, can be dangerous.
Junior Hannah Reed learned this the hard way one evening, when she and a friend donned sumo suits and engaged in corpulent combat.
Reed, however, did not don the helmet that comes with the suit.
Her friend, who has a slight competitive streak, caught Reed off balance, sending her reeling back, her head landing off the foam pad onto the hard floor.
Reed suffered a concussion and some bruised pride.
"They did a CAT scan, and the people in the ER laughed at me," Reed said. "I haven't sumo wrestled since."
Injury is an unfortunate but inevitable aspect of the sports world, and it, like Reed's opponent, can be a tenacious contender.
"Any time you're active and playing sports or just exercising, whatever the case may be, injuries happen," Head UP Athletic Trainer Kyle Nelson said.
Although the specter of hurting oneself doesn't really hang over an athlete or coach, Nelson said, athletic trainers and coaches are ever vigilant of the risks involved in their sports, especially considering the level of competition they deal with.
"Any injury, any setback, is a huge loss," women's soccer Head Coach Garrett Smith said. "If you've missed two games, you've missed 10 percent of your season."
Injuries wracked the women's soccer team last fall, sidelining three starters for a majority of the season.
Although injury is a hardship for individuals and players, Smith attributed the continued success on the team's depth and flexibility, saying that others were able to step up and fill in the gaps.
Training and practicing properly improves performance, Nelson said, but also helps reduce the risk of injury.
Prevention has its limits, and when that fails, a true test of a competitor is his ability to go on in spite of whatever obstacle confronts him.
During a volleyball match to determine the high school state champion, sophomore Ashley Paczolt, playing left back, dove for a loose ball. Unfortunately, her elbow landed first.
"I basically uppercut myself in the face," she said.
The blow smashed her nose, but that didn't stop her. A new jersey to replace the bloodied one and two halves of a tampon to plug her nose later, she was back in the game.
Her team went on to win the state championship that year.
"I didn't really care after that," she said. Paczolt added that the post-game photos show her already-forming black eyes.
Nelson recalled a basketball player at a college he worked for several years ago who badly sprained his ankle early in the season.
The player came to Nelson, and he always asked Nelson how he could improve or what else he could do to speed his recovery. Given some time, the player recovered and was able to return later in the season.
"Those are the athletes you love to have," he said, adding that seeing the player return to play after overcoming a tough injury was very satisfying as a trainer.
Freshman Zach Varce had a similar experience playing baseball a year ago.
It was the first game of the high school baseball season during Varce's senior year. He was pitching that day.
"I threw one, and I heard a pop," said Varce, who ended up throwing out his arm.
It took five months of rehabilitation, working on range of motion, flexibility, weights and light throwing, to return his arm back to throwing shape.
"I didn't come back until the end of summer league," Varce said. Although upset that he missed his senior season and was unable to help out his team, which had a 22-2 record the year prior, Varce said he's a better player for it.
"I came back stronger than before," he said. Not only was he a better pitcher, he came back with a new pitch, a splitter.
"(I was) throwing harder and healthier and everything worked out well," he said. Varce is now pitching for the Pilots.
