Kvelve's Comments: The injury bug

The ugly side of sports can happen at any minute.

And when it rears that ugly head, almost always without warning, it can bring a great season crashing down in a frustrating ball of heartache. 

I’m talking injuries, the unfortunate side of sports.  The ugly side of sports. 

No team or any single player is immune to injury, which, in addition to pain, can cause entire seasons of hard work and dedication to disappear. 

As someone who has laid on the grass of a field of play, looking up at the sky while thoughts of dread, and pain, raced through my mind, despair was the emotion of the moment. 

I was able, every time, with the assistance of teammates and coaches, to hobble off on the road to recovery. Days of hard work, time in the weight room and the joy of sports were put on hold as I limped over to the sideline. 

Days of harder work lay ahead. 

Why am I writing about this subject?  Because it claimed another local athlete who had a great chance of winning a medal at the state championship. 

Superior sophomore Turner Milender, an outstanding young fella who happened to be a multi-sport star in the making for the Bobcats, was felled by the injury wizard during this past weekend’s Western Divisional B-C wrestling tournament in Butte. 

Milender suffered a dislocated elbow during a match in the 157-pound category. It is a painful injury that will take some time to heal. 

But for young men like Milender, youth and the drive to be the best will win the rehabilitation battle that lies ahead. 

He was headed for an almost certain finals match against Plains-Hot Springs’ John Waterbury, who himself was sidelined in the first game of the football season this past fall with a season-ending lower leg injury. 

Waterbury, a senior who like Milender is a standout in multiple sports, spent the next several weeks working to heal his wounded limb and was able to return for the Savage Heat’s final regular season game and playoff games, albeit with a noticeable limp. 

He kept working and returned to the starting lineup for the Plains-Hot Springs wrestling team where he advanced to the finals of the 157-pound classification and won the match to secure a high seed at this coming weekend’s state finals in Billings. 

Turner, meanwhile, was taken to a hospital where doctors put his elbow back in place.  He too, will now embark on the injury rehab trail and will no doubt be back in the saddle soon. 

Injuries strike every team every year.  They are not only devasting to the injured player but can be equally devastating to the team. 

And in a strange way, the road back can be the ultimate test of competitive drive.  Some don’t go on.  Some are unfortunately permanently injured, and their sports days are limited or over. 

But most young athletes bounce back.  Youth is a wonderful assistant in such battles. 

Anyone who has met Milender or Waterbury or any of the other young boys and girls who are bitten by the injury bug, can be proud of the fight to get back in the ring, back on the field, back on the court. 

Hot Springs’ graduate Katelyn Christensen, who was an outstanding multiple sport star for the Lady Heat during her time at the school, lost a year to a major knee injury a few seasons ago. 

She worked tirelessly to return to form and is now on an athletic scholarship to Carroll College in Helena. 

Injury bug, you’ve bet your match with the young student athletes in this area.  We are Montanans.