Supplement

 

Playing again

Corene McKay

 

Two minutes were left in the
game and the Royals were up by
twenty, Kristen Bennett remem-
bers. “I was driving to the
basket and I did a jump stop,
and basically my whole leg
popped out.”

In February last year, the
then second-year player with
the Douglas College Women’s
basketball team tore two liga-
ments, her ACL and MCL, and
strained the other ligament, her
PCL, and tore cartilage. Ten days
later surgeons put two screws in
her leg and sutured her ACL
back on. After that she was off
her knee on crutches for a
couple of months, watching from
the bench as her team played in
the Provincials. “After about ten
months I was running and
playing again. I recovered a lot
faster than I thought because
my doctor basically said ‘you
probably won't play again or do
any sports again’ So I worked
hard at physio and trying to get
my flexibility back.”

A confident player on the
court, Bennett is not entirely
comfortable with being inter-
viewed. She twists a drawstring
cord around her fingers and
keeps moving her feet as she
talks. She smiles nervously, and
frequently pauses as she deliber-
ates her answers. While she is
forthright about her injury and
rehabilitation, questions such as
what her strengths are as a
basketball player stymie her.
| After a long pause: “I don't
know. I'm fairly...tenacious
maybe would be the word. Hard-
working. I don’t have some of
| the skill that some other players
have, I’m not a huge scorer, so I
like to work hard on defense.”

Bennett has been playing
basketball since grade six. In

high school she played several
different sports. “I played soccer
and volleyball and I did track
until about grade eleven, and I
decided I liked basketball the
best out of all the sports I
played.

“I'm pretty competitive,
so it’s a fun sport to play,” she
explains. “You need speed and
athletic ability to play, and it’s a
good team atmosphere.”

Her smile widens: “I like to
win.”

She seems to enjoy the
sport even when her team
doesn't win. Her favourite
basketball memory is playing in
the Provincials in grade twelve.
“We lost our first game so we
didn’t place very well. It was
just the whole atmosphere,
playing up at Cap. Before that
our team had never gone to
Provincials in junior high, so it
was a good experience, to play
under some pressure.”

In college, Bennett decided
to carry on with basketball. “I
was very nervous,” she says
about the tryouts, “because I
wasn't really recruited to play. I
just knew a girl on the team and
she talked to the coach for me.
So I worked really hard for a
week and hustled, and made the
team. (laughs nervously) It was
rough.”

She says being on the
team helped her adjust to
college. “My first year I didn’t
know anybody, but right away
you know at least ten girls and
you know some of the guys’
teams. It gives you somebody to
talk to if you're having problems
with courses or just stressing
out—there’s always somebody
there.

Sometimes, she admits, it’s
hard to keep up her dedication
to the sport. “Especially this
year, because I’m not playing

really, I find it hard to keep
motivated to want to practice
every day and work really hard,
when I know that when the
weekend comes around I’m not
going to get to suit up and play.
So I just keep thinking that I
want to work hard for the team,
to make the team better. If I
play good defense in practice,
it’s going to transfer over to the
game, and hopefully they'll be
ready to play. That's pretty
much how I stay motivated. Just
that I love to play too, so
coming out is fun.” -

There have been difficul-
ties coming back. “Not as much
anymore,” she says, “but when I
first started out I kept on
picturing hurting myself again,
or just remembering the injury
and what my leg looked like,
and I even used to be scared to
drive or any contact I'd be
worried about. But now I'm
pretty good; It’s still at the back
of my mind if I get pushed or if
I fall funny, but I'm fairly
confident now.”

She says it was difficult
sitting on the bench watching
her teammates play. “It’s hard.
Especially if they're not playing
well or if it doesn’t look like
they're trying. “They're always
trying,” she corrects herself
immediately, “but sometimes
you want to just get in there
and play.”

I try to ask if her
teammatés were supportive
throughout her rehabilitation.
“Very,” she says, before I can
finish getting the question out.
“They were always there, telling
me to keep going, and always
asking how I was.”

“Without my parents and
my team and my family,” she
volunteers, “I don't think I
would have been able to get
back into shape and do this

again.”

However, this is most
likely Bennett's last year at
Douglas, although she still has
at least one year of eligibility
left. (Students can only play
four years of a particular sport
in college or university.)
Bennett explains, “Now that I've
played two games that probably
will [count as a year of eligibil-
ity]. I'm going to UBC, hope-
fully, next year so I'll probably
just play intramurals there and
do some other stuff. So I'm not
really concerned about using a

- year up.”

In the future, she says,
“Td like to coach. That's what I
really want to do. I’m going into
teaching, so hopefully I'll coach.
[Maybe] even coach soccer or
something else. Just stay
involved.” She mentions recrea-
tional women’s leagues, “They
have a lot of things going on for
when you're older, open gym
and stuff like that, so I'll
probably keep playing hopefully

Questions, many questions

The women’s basketball team
started the season looking
unbeatable, but a recent string
of losses has put their invincibil-
ity and their provincial title
hopes in jeopardy.

During their opening run
of eight wins and no losses, the
Royals smothered their oppo-
nents with an aggressive full
court press that led to many
easy baskets on turnovers;
however, the press is keyed by
quick traps and movement by
the defense, something the
Royals have been sorely lacking
in the past month or so. Al-
though their half-court ‘D’
hasn't really fallen off, teams
like Capilano were slicing to the
hoop for easy, uncontested lay-
ups, which is unacceptable for a
team looking for provincial gold.

The starters for Douglas
are very strong, including BCCAA
player of the year hopeful Carrie
Rogers. Rogers has blossomed in

her second year and has taken
up most of the offensive void
created when Stacy Reykdal
went to UBC. Tammy Neufeld is a
threat to score anywhere inside
15 feet, with a solid fade away
jumper and a quick, decisive
drive to the basket, which often
gets her to the free throw line
for easy points. Kim Neiszner
has been bothered with injuries
lately, limiting her playing time
and occasionally forcing her to
miss entire games. When she is
on, Neiszner dominates the
passing lanes, and because of
her speed and quickness is very
effective bringing the ball up
and leading the press. Darcy
Savage, in her last year leading
the Royals, has the ability to
take her check out of the game
with an aggressive defense that
doesn’t stop until the whistle
blows. Recently she has picked
up a few technical fouls for back
talking the referees, which must

stop or teams will simply try to
rattle her and take her out of
the game. Audrey Curran is
something of an enigma in the
starting five. One game she will
have 20 points and 15 rebounds
and the next she will disappear,
possibly fouling out before
scoring 10 points. Curran can
dominate inside and has the
ability to drive through oppo-
nents for easy baskets and fouls.
If she brings her ‘A’ game to the
provincials, the Royals oppo-
nents will be hard pressed to
stop her.

Problems with the team,
however, have risen when coach
Richard Williams heads down the
bench.

The Douglas defense,
including the press, doesn’t fade
once coach Williams starts his
substitutions; however the
offense suffers from what
appears to be “game shakes” as
three of the Royals’ top subs are

first year players.

Most of the year, the
Royals’ subs have seemed
reluctant to shoot the ball,
passing up easy scoring opportu-
nities to make the perfect play,
which often results in a turnover
and allows the opposing team
back into the game. One thing
that guard Christy Williams must
learn to do, if she plans to take
the reins from Savage next year,
is dribble with her-left hand.
She appears oblivious of this
appendage, which will, if she
runs into an opponent who
knows two cents about playing
defense, make her totally
ineffective. Williams does do a
great job of running the Royals’
offense, but must bring her left
hand into the game, otherwise
Douglas could be in serious
trouble if they run into another
team that plays strong defense.

If Douglas is to claim the
gold medal this weekend, they

 

and stay in shape.”

I meant to ask Bennett if
the injury and long months of
rehabilitation were worth the
enjoyment she gets out of
basketball, but the question is
unimportant by the end of the
interview, as her love of the
sport is so clearly apparent.

“I'm proud of myself
[playing again],” she says,
“because at the beginning when
I hurt myself, everyone thought
that I was pretty much finished
for the rest of my life, I think.
So it's just great to be able to do
something again and play. I was
pretty discouraged and disap-
pointed and I didn’t know what
I was going to do if I couldn't
play basketball or do any other
sports.”

need to forget about the slug-
gishness that led to their slow
finish and return to the up
tempo, aggressive, trapping,
running game that burst them
out to an 8-0 start.