A PAINFUL LAST SEASON FOR SOME

By MELISSA NOLAN

As the winter sport season winds down at Washingtonville High School, the athletes are savoring every moment and dreading the last time they will play with the teammates they have grown up with.  While many senior athletes are upset about their last season as a Wizard, other athletes did not even get the chance to finish their seasons,  and some did not even get a chance to  start. 

MELISSA NOLAN FOR THE WIZARD WEEKLY

It seems as though Washingtonville has been plagued with student injuries as of late.  Take Megan Fico, a senior cheerleader for instance.  She has been part of the cheerleading team since her freshman year.  Her passion for cheer has only grown stronger over the years, as she also joined the competition team in 9th grade.  Concluding the fall cheerleading season was bittersweet, but Megan took solace in the fact that she had one more season with the competition team in the winter.  Tragically, this would not be the case.

In late November, Megan was practicing a stunt with her team.  Something went wrong and she painfully landed on her knee.  The doctor said she had an abundance of scar tissue and diagnosed her with Plica knee pain.  According to houstonmethodist.org, Plica is, “a term used to describe a fold in the lining of the knee joint.  Imagine the inner lining of the knee joint as nothing more than a sleeve of tissue.” 

Megan admits, “I really miss cheerleading and being able to stunt; it makes me upset that I can’t compete my last year.”  She also added, “I will be out for the rest of the season, but I am proud of my team and will be cheering them on in sections!”  Megan will most likely be getting surgery in the near future. 

Another senior, Devin Lewis, also has a crucial injury that will potentially stop him from playing sports in the near future.  He is part of the varsity basketball team at WHS and is well known for shooting 3 pointers.  The last time he was injured resulted in surgery on his ACL and meniscus this past summer, and he has been doing his best to heal enough to play this season.

Starting the season in mid-December as a forward, Devin was psyched to be back on the court for one last time.  He was successful in helping the team achieve their record of 9-4.  Unfortunately, the grind had to stop early.  Last Thursday, the boys were working hard in practice when Devin’s knee gave out.  Luckily, it was only a bad bone bruising and nothing extremely serious.  There is still potential that he will return for the remaining weeks of the season. 

It has been a heartbreaking time for Devin as he was looking forward to finishing the season strong with his friends by his side.  “Since this is the way it has to be,” he uttered, “I am really devastated about it, but I set myself a goal in my senior season to play basketball and make an impact and I feel as if I accomplished that.”  Devin hopes to overcome his knee injury and heal as quickly as possible. 

Although injuries are, in fact, devastating, it only makes people stronger when they return.  Being a Wizard means hard work, never giving up and being there for each other through tough times.