Sidelined by an Injury--Athletes Forced Out of the Game

I decided to share something I wrote that featured a personal story (as well as other resources) about a Casa Grande High School (a high school in my own hometown!) student that came to Nevada. Though this was not before losing all his offers for scholarships (as a highly recruited defensive back) after a injury he sustained before his freshman year of college.

I found out that a pretty popular newspaper, The Press Democrat, ended up writing a profile on the same student, Makana Garrigan, that I did--AFTER I did. The Press Democrat article.

In all honesty it really made me realize how small I really am. I wrote a story, before this publication, and nothing happened. Granted, I wouldn't have formatted this story exactly like I did because I had to abide by quite a few guidelines, but it really brings me, as a student, back down to Earth--knowing that honestly without the right promotion and social media action, no one will ever hear what you have to say.

WARNING: This is a really long story! You may want to do some eye stretches before you take them on this journey :)

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So what happens if a player is recruited out of high school and gets injured—or is playing for that college team and ends up completely sidelined by an injury?

As a student that has received a scholarship in order to play sports for a university, no matter if it’s full-ride or a partial scholarship, that sport consumes a significant part of their college life, while also serving as their path towards a degree in higher education. What are the results from this injury? Not only to the fate of the player’s scholarship, but to their overall mental and physical health—this athlete just lost a major part of their livelihood, one which they may heavily rely on. This offer is one that may have held quite a few possibilities, not to mention the opportunity to segue into a career coupled with the backing of a college degree. A student here at UNR unfortunately gained first-hand knowledge of what it was like to be in this tragic situation. Makana Garrigan, a student at the University of Nevada-Reno, unfortunately suffered from a career ending injury before he made it to his first semester of college.

“I’ve played all my life. I started off when I was six years old,” Garrigan shared when discussing the early beginnings of his football career. “After my freshman year in high school one of my head coaches pulled me aside and told me I had a serious career and asked me if I really wanted to play college football.” In his junior year of high school he started getting recognition from the Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC) and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) schools—UNR included. In his senior year he started getting offers and attending camps—the attention he received was at an all-time high. It was his homecoming game during his senior year and he went in for routine hit, when all of a sudden his entire arm—from his shoulder down to his fingers—went numb. He went back in to the game with the hope that it was just a stinger (also called a nerve pinch injury, it’s a neurological injury suffered by athletes, mostly in high-contact sports)—but the feeling was still gone. After that game, the feeling came back in his arm, right up to his shoulder where he still had numbness, and currently does to this day. After the injury he was required to let all of the schools that had made him offers aware of what happened, and even though a few (including UNR) extended him the option of attending as a preferred walk on, every scholarship offer was rescinded.
“I shut my self away from everyone,” Garrigan said, his eyes glossing over. “I remember sitting in the hospital with my dad and seeing him cry for the first time. It was heartbreaking. I felt like I let my family down in a way. I had always worked hard for this and they had my back through it. Then all of a sudden once I’m finally at that point and it’s like ‘oh okay, I’m here’, then it’s taken away—just like that.” It was obvious that Garrigan bounced back from any lasting depression caused by his situation, but it doesn’t always work that way for all athletes.

Post injury related depression is on the rise. So much that studies have come out more recently showing a peak in interest regarding this topic. In a retrospective study done in 2009 titled “Measuring Post Injury Depression Among Male and Female Competitive Athletes”, the previous study done by Brewer and Petrie was used in their research. It surveyed collegiate football players from a sample of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I universities. Using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) type of scale, they compared the depression symptom totals between athletes who had reported an injury the previous school year and those who had reported no injuries during the same timeframe. The results indicated that athletes who sustained an injury during the previous year showed significantly higher depression symptoms than the athletes who hadn’t suffered an injury in the past year. They then took those results and concluded that an estimated 33% of athletes with injury histories and 27% of those without injury histories could be classified as clinically depressed.

Athletes at the pro level, the collegiate level as well as high school can be prone to sustaining injuries quite frequently. The degree of severity ranges, but any injury is usually pretty serious to an athlete—especially if it has them riding the bench. As a fan who attends as many games as possible, watches them even while in class and is constantly following the latest updates, would be considered the opinion of a hardcore sports fan and could be another angle to investigate. When realizing one of the players on their favorite team, fantasy team, or a player they like in general is injured—how do they react? Does it do justice for the emotions felt by the actual players themselves—could it even come close? Lexi Koster—a huge San Francisco 49er’s football fan—chose to focus on Alex Smith, a pervious QB for the 49ers who sustained a concussion early in the 2012 year, which resulted in him being out the rest of the season, even though his injury wasn’t severe enough to warrant him watching another game on the bench. “I do think about how being injured affects the players,” Koster said, “I could only imagine how it would feel for Alex Smith to go through the entire season on the bench—they go to the Super Bowl and he isn’t leading the team. It must be devastating.” Though when discussing players that aren’t from her favorite team, her reaction was a little different. “It just bums me out,” Koster said, in regard to losing a player on her fantasy team as result of injury. “You rely so much on that player to get you points and help you win that week and they are suddenly out halfway through that game so they only get you a small amount of points and then it can get you really pissed off.” A significant difference from the response of an athlete—who would tend to be more focused on their personal loss (as in career, mobility, scholarships—things like that) like in Garrigan’s case—opposed to the results of random, unsuccessful fantasy game.

Jean Perry, the special assistant to the President for Athletics Academics and Compliance as well as the faculty athletics representative spoke about the way scholarships work for an injured player, specifically here at UNR. “At this university—and you may see it differently within other schools—if the player signs a national letter of intent, we would still bring that student on,” Perry said. “Obviously we would like to know what happened, and try and rehabilitate them if possible.” If they are unable to be brought back from their injury, there are special programs within the athletic department that they hold open for students in these cases. Though there is a difference between verbal and written offers when it comes to scholarships—the major reason being that verbal offers are non-binding. “Every now and then the person who’s committed to you can decide well, that’s really not right for me, and they have the option to back out,” Perry also went on to add, “But yes, I think a player that gets injured after signing, and it’s a permanent injury, can be faced with a strong chance that they may have their scholarship pulled—but it’s done on a careful, case by case basis.”

Richard Bell is also a student here at UNR on a full-ride scholarship for basketball. He was born in a town just 40 minutes outside of London, and says if it weren’t for basketball, he would not be in America. He was part of the team last year that won the WAC championship and has been a major part of UNR basketball since joining the team a little over a year ago. As far as his scholarship he gets everything paid for, as well as $1,000 a month to pay for rent and other expenses that aren’t school related. UNR caught his eye for a reason. “This program has a history for developing players—getting them to the next level,” Bell said. “Players aren’t necessarily highly recruited but they give them a good chance, at a great level of play.” It was easy to see in his face how much basketball means to him. He was speechless for a few seconds with a pained look that clouded his face more than once after he was presented with the idea of never playing again. It was also obvious in this reaction when asked about the injuries he received while playing basketball, especially after becoming injured severely enough that it had him out a fair amount of games in the beginning of the season. This time period really made him consider what he would do if he were to ever sustain a serious—possibly career ending—injury.  “I’ve thought about this before when I was injured,” Bell said, looking down at his feet. “It’s horrible thinking like that when your life basically revolves around one thing—I really had no idea what I would do. If I didn’t have basketball I don’t know who I’d be, what I would do really. It’s a huge part of my life.” Athletes that play at the NCAA level have come a far ways from the previous high school level play. It has a bigger place in their life—it carries a larger meaning, this idea comes across evidently in both Garrigan as well as Bell’s personal stories.

In regards to Makana, his story has a happy ending. Just by observing his body language one can tell his passion for football—it was clearly written all over his face. He went on to say that he missed football too much and decided to meet with his former head coach (during the time when he first came to UNR as a preferred walk-on) and asked him if any intern positions were open. “I couldn’t stay away from it [football].” Garrigan said. “I went into the athletic offices and talked to the safety’s coach—coach Bradeson. He told me that would be awesome [for Garrigan to intern], and that they could use more guys like me around.” That was about two years ago; since then he has been promoted and now works in the football office assisting the entire defense staff. On top of that he collaborating with the defensive players to implement the new plays created by defensive coordinator, coach Hazelton. After a long stretch of storytelling with an understandably despondent demeanor, his face cracks a genuine smile. He happily continues on, discussing the details of his job—all the while making sure to firmly express that he is indeed doing exactly “what he has always wanted to do”.