Getting back in the game: Part III

The old saying "you don't know what you got until it's gone" became a reality for multiple Bigfork High School athletes this fall season as they incurred serious injuries that kept them from playing some of their favorite sports.

Many student athletes become injured at some point during a season, especially those who push themselves the hardest. However, this year some of those injuries meant time spent in a hospital for Bigfork's student athletes, and a few even required surgery. Although they are young enough to still be quick healers, they have all had to struggle with missing playing time and the idea that they may not even recover in time for the start of the basketball season. They are all nearly back to their old selves, but they have all learned some valuable lessons from the incidents.

The Bigfork Eagle is following their roads to recovery as they work their way through their injuries and onto the basketball court.

This week, read about junior Ben Sandry who was injured during pre-season football practice and played just two games before being told he needed to sit out for the remainder of the season. Sandry was recently cleared to play basketball, which is the sport he is most passionate about.

Junior Ben Sandry was diving for a pass from Vikings quarterback Christian Ker during football two-a-days in August when his legs bent backwards and up over his head, injuring his back.

He felt a great deal of pain at the time of impact, but he continued to practice with his team and even played in their first two games as a tight end and wide receiver. But then, it became too painful, especially when he was running and jumping.

Sandry went to Kalispell Regional Medical Center for a CT Scan and it was determined that he had micro-fractured his back. Doctors told him that it should heal if he stopped being active for a month. However, two weeks later he was still in pain despite the lack of physical activity, so they gave him a cloth brace to wear at all times except for when he was sleeping.

He was also instructed to begin physical therapy, which he did twice a week before school with Mike Close at Bigfork Physical Therapy. While at the sessions, Sandry worked-out on an exercise ball, used tension bands, ran on an elliptical trainer or treadmill, did lots of squats and worked on making his hamstrings more flexible so they wouldn't pull on his back as much.

By the time his month of time off from physical activities was over, so was the Vikings' football season.

Missing out on playing football was especially difficult for Sandry for two reasons. The first being that he had played his freshman year, but didn't play last year, having participated in the school's golf team instead. This year, Bigfork High School is in Class B instead of Class A as it was previously, and those schools play golf in the spring.

"I wish I would've gotten to play football this season because I enjoyed it a lot, especially because of the coaches," Sandry said.

The other reason it was difficult for Sandry to be sidelined is that he didn't get to fully be a part of the Vikings historic comeback season.

"It was exciting to be back in the tradition of winning," Sandry said.

However, he made the best of it by cheering on his team. The experience was also made better by the fact that his best friend Carter Sorensen was also out for the season with an injury.

"He kept me company on the sideline," Sandry said. "We cheered the team on and got rowdy on the sideline. We helped the team out too. If we saw something going on on the field, we'd let the other players know."

However, it was still hard for Sandry to not live the active lifestyle he enjoyed.

Although the physical therapy visits and the lack of participation in activities was not an enjoyable experience for Sandry, he kept what was most important to him in sight – basketball season.

"It motivated me to do the things I needed to do to get recovered and play basketball," Sandry said.

Sandry started playing basketball when he was 4 years old on local Rotary teams. His freshman year of high school he made the varsity team, which was then coached by Jim Epperly. Last year he swung between the junior varsity and varsity teams of the program, which was headed up by Lyle Whiteman.

When open gyms first started for the boys this October, Sandry was still not cleared by doctors to participate.

"It was hard because you want to be out there, but you don't want to risk the whole season just because you did something stupid," Sandry said.

He was given the go-ahead shortly before tryouts, but Vikings Head Coach Paul LaMott knew that Sandry was still frequently in pain and opted to not have him go through the rigorous two-day tryout process. The coach said that he had seen Sandry play over the summer prior to his injury and that he was able to evaluate his abilities from those interactions well enough to feel confident that he would be a good fit on the varsity team.

Now that the Vikings' season has officially started, Sandry is officially back, and almost fully recovered.

"It hasn't really hurt at all recently," Sandry said of his back. "It's gotten a lot better, but there's still some pain."

Last weekend he played a key role in both of the Vikings' games in the Tip Off Tournament in Polson and Ronan 'see the story on page B1).

"I don't feel like I have as much endurance as everyone else because I've had to sit out at practices when my back hurt," Sandry said. "So, I feel like they can stay in the game longer, but other than that I feel like I'm up to speed with everyone else and I'm up to doing whatever the coach needs me to do."

Sandry still has to wear his brace when he plays basketball and attend physical therapy sessions once a week, but he doesn't mind too much as he is really just happy to be playing basketball. When his injury was first diagnosed, he wondered if it would keep him off the court.

"When I really thought about it, it hurt me and I shut down mentally," Sandry said of the idea that he might not be able to play basketball this season. "Basketball is my sport and it would suck to not be able to play it."

Instead, though, Sandry is looking forward to being a part of the team, which he said has a much different feel than last season.

"Last year a lot of kids were just about themselves and not about the team," Sandry said. "This year the coach is really emphasizing that we're all about team."

Sandry said he thinks that the changes made this season to the program are positive ones, and that the team has a good chance of turning around their 3-17 record from last year.

"We're looking tough," Sandry said. "I think we're going to have a really good season. We are state-bound. If we work hard, I'm pretty sure we can get there."