Sport Injuries

     Mandan High School (MHS) athletes have been seeing a spike in sport injuries. The reason for this is unknown, but makes for a fun story to tell later on. By just looking in the hallways in MHS, one can see at least 1 in 20 students are injured. Sometimes you can even hear these athletes talk about how past injuries are affecting them today. 

   A more current sport story is told by Brenna Bauman, a senior at MHS. Brenna plays volleyball and hockey. She also used to do track and field. 

 “I was playing volleyball with my teammates before a hockey game this year. One of the eighth graders on our team kicked the ball and it crunched my thumb. It swelled up like a balloon and got all black and blue. It was extremely painful at first but I was not about to miss a game. So I played that day and the game after and finally went and got x-rays three days later. It was broken. They wanted me out for like two months but I thought that was stupid so I signed an AMA form and continued to play,”  Bauman said.

Continuing on the hockey train, here is a story told by Laaden Dobitz, a sophomore goalie for the girls' hockey team. This story takes place about 2-3 years ago when she first got on the girls team.

 “My first year of High School Hockey, I took a hard shot to the dome from my teammate. I thought nothing of it, as a goalie this is a common occurrence. I continued hockey and school like normal, until my coach informed me I most likely had a concussion during a dryland practice I couldn't compete. I was off the ice for about a week," Dobitz said.

Hockey is known to be more of an aggressive sport resulting in a lot of injuries. However that doesn't mean that any other sport is not equally as dangerous. 

   This next story is told by Alexis Schmidt, a junior at MHS and a sprinter for track. This injury has happened over time. 

  “For track I got shin splints so bad from constantly running with so much force that I got 12 micro fractures in each leg that splintered upwards into my tendons. So, every time I would run the splinters would rub on my tendons. As you could imagine it hurt. Still finished the season tho!” Schmidt said.

Patrisha Schumacher is another runner, but for cross country. She is a senior.

     “I had hurt my knees while in cross country by running too much. I had strained both of my knees. My knees had hurt and it was hard to walk and bend them. I remember at one of my practices I had to go home early because I had pain in my knees. I tried everything and then I went to walk in and they said I had strained my knees. I want to say to people that is in a sport is to take it easy but still work hard on their sport. If you think you have an injury please go into the walk in and not wait too long because it can cause you to have more pain," Schumacher said.

   This next sport injury is broughten to you by Sage Henderson, a junior wrestler for the girls team.

    “During my 8th grade year, I was on the girls’ wrestling team for Mandan. While training with weights on my own time, I accidentally pulled my middle and pointer fingers out of their sockets. The pain was so intense that, even in my sleep, I would stay in the same position for hours, often with my arm in the air. My grandma once played a little joke on Facebook and placed an egg in my hand while I was sleeping. Despite the pain, I didn’t let it stop me from wrestling, and I never got the injury treated. It wasn’t until recently, when I finally went to the doctor, that I found out both fingers had been dislocated for 3-4 years. Imagine living with that kind of pain without realizing the extent of the injury, I thought it was just muscle aches and pains," Henderson said.