For any athlete there is nothing quite like a serious injury that can so thoroughly derail a promising season. One minute you may be in prime form, have worked at your craft throughout the entirety of an offseason, and in the blink of an eye you watch as all your hard work crumbles before you in a heap of shattered hopes. Now, of course, should an athlete sustain an injury while off-season and not playing, the mental toll could be a little more, but they’d always have the option to contact the likes of an Arkansas Personal Injury Attorney or similar legal services available. While the initial physical pain is temporary, the mental toll a serious injury takes is far more challenging for any athlete to cope with. This is where Bo Schuh, now a sophomore forward for the men’s basketball team, found himself in the middle of last season.
The date was January 2nd. It was Saturday in Terra Haute, Indiana, and the Pioneers were playing Rose-Hulman in a conference matchup. A game sophomore forward, Bo Schuh, would not soon forget. To have him put it, “I remember that game way too vividly.”
As is typical for the start of a New Year, people everywhere had their sights set on personal goals, fresh starts, and promising futures. It was no different for Bo Schuh; a talented freshman at the time, known for his high-flying finishes at the rim and his uncapped potential. Going into that game Bo had seen his playing time progress on a steady incline. He had played 30 minutes against Ohio Wesleyan two games prior, and against Thomas More (the game immediately before Rose-Hulman) he had played 36 minutes. He was averaging just over 13 points per game.
“I was really confident.” Schuh replied when asked how he felt going into the Rose-Hulman game. “It was the best basketball I had ever played.”
He had no idea the entire complexion of his season and his personal life were going to change in the matter of a nano-second.
Bo had scored 11 points in just 12 minutes of play. With the clock showing around eight minutes to go in the first half, catastrophe struck for the freshman. He faked a handoff on the left wing and dribbled down the baseline.
“I was driving in for a layup, and when I came down I landed pretty weird.” Schuh stated. “I landed on my left leg and it just buckled.” He sunk the layup to tie his season average of 13 points.
Initially Bo didn’t know the extent of the injury. “I walked off by myself, so I was like, ‘I guess I’m OK.’ I got taped up to go back in, but it didn’t work out.” Coach Lane decided against putting Bo back in for the remainder of the game as a precaution.
As his knee pain persisted, Bo went to a specialist a couple of days after his injury. His dad, trainer Libby Cole, and Coach Lane accompanied him. “I went and saw a doctor two days later, and that’s when they told me I had torn my ACL.”
As the doctor began talking about rehab, a dejected Schuh tuned it out. “I just stared at the floor for like fifteen minutes. I didn’t want to hear it.”
Schuh stated that he remembers finding out about his injury as one of the lowest points of his life. “It was just the feeling of knowing the next ten months of my life were going to be different and I probably wouldn’t be able to play basketball the same way again.” After receiving the news, Schuh rode back to campus with his dad. “After [my dad] parked the car in the Beck Center parking lot I just started breaking down crying.”
Coach Lane texted the team in a group message to let them know they would have a team dinner at Malone’s that night. It was there that Bo announced to the team that he would not be returning to the court for the rest of the season. “After about 30 minutes into dinner I went into the bathroom and cried for another fifteen minutes. I was just so upset.”
Unbeknownst to Bo, while he was in the restroom his teammates told the waiter at the restaurant it was Bo’s birthday. When he came back to the table, everyone began singing happy birthday. “My birthday is in July.” Bo stated, laughing. “It was the only thing that cheered me up that day.”
After that night, Bo went every day to the Beck Center training room for rehab, and once every week to the Lexington Clinic for physical therapy. He carries the lessons he learned in rehab with him today in order to improve his game. “I still stretch about three times a day,” he says. Physical therapy can help with so many ailments, and when practiced correctly will support recovery greatly, alameda physical therapy clinic may be the right one for those searching in California, but there will be ones closer to them if they do not reside in that area.
Bo found silent motivation in his will to come back and play with his team again. “I never had a low point during rehab.” All in all, rehab lasted nine months. Rehab centers like Pacific Ridge, can do amazing things for people since they really can change people’s lives.
This season Bo is having to get acclimated to his new role on the team. As a prolific scorer his freshman year, he is adjusting to being a defensive and rebounding specialist. “It was frustrating at first because I was sitting on the bench a lot and only getting limited minutes. Then I just sort of realized that I needed to stop caring so much about my stats because if I play my role it can help us win.”
Senior Derek Jeffries echoed the sentiments of the rest of the team in saying how happy the guys are to have Bo back on the court. “With him coming back that adds depth to our forward positions.” Jeffries is no stranger to season ending injuries, having missed his entire freshman season. “Having come back from a season ending injury myself I know how hard it is to stay positive. He worked really hard in the offseason in his rehab,” Jeffries stated, “Great things will continue to come for him.”
Out of the many lessons this injury has taught him, one sticks with Bo. “Don’t take anything for granted. Every athlete’s career eventually ends, even if you don’t get injured.” A lesson all athletes can take meaning from. “Enjoy it while you can.” Bo stated, “And stretch a lot.”
