Three Injuries. Three Journeys. Three Comebacks: with Avery VanDellen, Brandon Berry & Collin Roelofs

A sports injury to end your season, and maybe take away your sport forever. It's the devastating news no athlete ever wants to hear. Depression, sadness and anger are all part of the process, isolation and doubt show up too.

In this episode, we are blessed to have Avery VanDellen, Brandon Berry and Collin Roelofs all come on The 29/1 and simply tell the truth, sharing their experience with you, the greater West Ottawa, and greater sports community.

These three West Ottawa High School Seniors open up about the hurdles they've faced, from torn ligaments and tendons, to surgeries, rehab and the emotional toll of time spent off the field. Their stories are not just tales of recovery, but of rediscovering purpose and community support in the face of adversity.

With everything they've gone through, they also share a light spirit and optimistic outlook toward the future. They share what they've learned, they detail their comeback and in the end, provide us all with the permission to feel the pain of loss, share it those around you, and when the time comes, move forward with determination and grit.

This episode was recorded on February 18, 2025.

Send us a text

Podcasts now dropping at 5pm every Sunday evening for that late weekend chill, or listen Monday AM during that morning commute or workout. Please like, follow, subscribe, or leave a review. Even share with someone who might like to listen. Thanks for taking the time to get to know each other a little bit better. The people who make West Ottawa Athletics what it is. Go WO!

Special thanks to Laura Veldhof Photography.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was planting my knee and it just goes backwards
and twists inside.
That was the worst pain I'veever felt.
I kind of went down and lost mybreath.
I couldn't breathe.
That's how bad it hurt, and Ijust knew.
My first thought was I justruined my senior year.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Hey everybody, this is Rodney Valinga with the West
Ottawa High School AthleticProgram and you're listening to
the 29.1 Podcast 29 sports, oneteam, the show that brings you
into the lives ofstudent-athletes, coaches and
other faces in the Panthersports community, Bringing you
the stories you might otherwisenever hear.
Join myself and AthleticDirector Bill Kennedy as we dive

(00:50):
in with you to get to know eachother a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
To be an athlete is to be an athlete, and when it's
taken away from you, who are you?
What do you have left and willyou ever?

Speaker 4 (01:07):
get it back.
Today we're joined by Pantherseniors Avery Vandellen, brandon
Berry and Colin Roloffs.
They joined the pod to talkabout the life of a high school
athlete as they deal with injury.
This is an incredible sit downwith three awesome student
athletes as they talk throughthe emotion of dealing with
these injuries and theirultimate return to action.
It's a spring season full ofcomeback stories.

(01:30):
Avery Vandellen, brandon Berryand Colin Roloffs up next on the
29.1 Podcast let's get it, heyeverybody, welcome back to
another edition of the 29.1podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
I'm your host, rodney Valinga, and I'm sitting here
with Panthers Athletic Director,bill Kennedy.
If you are a regular listener,welcome back.
We really appreciate you.
And if you are listening forthe very first time, thanks for
checking this out.
We hope the voices and storiesof our student-athletes really
resonate with you.
And if you are a recentlyinjured athlete who is wondering

(02:12):
what am I supposed to do now?
Or how in the world am I evergoing to get through this,
settle in and listen to thosewho have.
Today we welcome three WestOttawa seniors who, in a matter
of months, will graduate andleave these storied halls behind
, but before they do, they havea sports spring season to enjoy.
After suffering injuries ofvarious degrees and different

(02:35):
recovery timetables, these threeare ready, or at least close to
ready, to get back at it, andone has been back at it for
quite some time, and it's ourgrateful honor to ask who is it?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Avery Van Dellen.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
Brandon Berry.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Colin Roloffs.
Thanks so much, guys, forcarving out a little bit of your
day.
We're using that seminar hour.
We got some Jimmy Johns for you, so we're taking care of the
nutrition piece.
I know Frank would be proudthat we're getting you guys fed
for sure.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, and it's super nice to have you guys.
You guys are always really niceto me.
I'm just a West Ottawa parent,but if I come up and chat you
guys up, you guys always spendtime with me.
Brandon, you always come dap meup and I know my dap game is
weak.

Speaker 5 (03:17):
Okay, we can work on it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, but you do it anyways.
My kids always tell me I'mcoming in too high, I'm coming
in too low, I'm grabbing tootight, but you don't say
anything.
You're real nice to me, so it'smuch, much appreciated.
No problem, all three of youhave been multi-sport athletes
here at West Ottawa, so we'regoing to get to know you a
little bit before we get started.
Avery, let's start with you.
You're a multi-sport athlete.
You've played a few differentsports here at West Ottawa.

(03:40):
What have they been?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I play varsity golf, varsity basketball and this year
I'll be playing varsity soccer.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, I never knew you played varsity golf until I
talked to your mom yesterday.
Let's go back to your love ofbasketball.
She told me a story that itkind of began when you did a
crossover of two defenders andlittle Panthers.
Do you remember that story?

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Dude.
Yeah, I mean, that was like thefirst time I like unlocked my
potential and I knew, like thisis sport I want to pursue.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
How old were you when that move happened?
Do you remember?

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't know, probably like eight, maybe, yeah
.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Getting some oohs and ahs at eight years old.
Oh, you know there'ssomething's going on for sure.
And then I also heard that youjoined golf and you get in a
tournament and you win yourfirst tournament.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I think I might have been second.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Second oh, moms will say you won yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
It was like first tournament ever.
I mean I played a little ineighth grade like with my dad,
but joined golf my freshman year.
I was on JV and from then on Ijust played for fun, I mean.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
But it kind of came natural to you a little bit yeah
.
Somewhat yeah just played forfun.
I mean, I kind of came naturalto you a little bit, yeah,
somewhat.
Yeah, that's pretty fun to pickup something.

Speaker 4 (04:46):
You're good at it Is golf something that you will
continue to play as you move onbeyond high school.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
I mean not like competitively, but obviously I'd
love to do it with, like, mykids as I get older and stuff
like that.

Speaker 4 (04:58):
So I'm I'm going to hit you and I need a swing
lessons.
Well, not swing lessons, but Ialways need that extra person
for that.
That foursome group in a in agolf outing, that's true,
Somebody that can, that canbring it all home, and having a
female that can hit from thefemale teas.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Oh yeah, comes in clutch.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's clutch Definitely.
And then you know you're a partof that regional champion
basketball team that last yearthat made it to the state
quarterfinals.
You came off the bench, whatwith the seventh, eighth kind of
player on that team yeah,somewhere in that.
And you had a nice run there,logged some meaningful minutes.
So you know that's a lot withyou.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
One of the best photos from that run is the
regional championship photo.
Avery, I get a smile from youwhen I mention it.
You know that photo don't you.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The joy and the excitement onthe face is everything.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
All right, this will be on Instagram at some point.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
We're going to go find this.
We'll stick it up.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Get that out there, brandon, born in Akron, ohio,
the home of LeBron James.
Lebron, you're born in Akronand you move here in seventh
grade.
Yes, sir, you're raised by asingle mom and you were like an
only child for 10 years.
Yep, let's do the Tiffany Berryshout-out.
I'll give a shout-out to allthe other parents as well
because they spend time with uson the phone.

(06:11):
But Tiffany Berry was great totalk to.
She said for you guys,especially as a younger, you
know you're in a single-parenthome, yep, and you move here.
You don't play sports untilalmost what seventh or eighth
grade.
Can you tell me about thatbeing young and you don't really
have this opportunity to playas much?

Speaker 5 (06:28):
um, yeah.
So yeah, growing up I mean Iused to I used to have like a
basketball hoop in the backyardlike we had enough space, but I
never actually got to play forlike a real team organized stuff
yeah, it was a lot of just morelike maybe like recreational,
like the ymca used to have likea little like 8U like basketball
to them.

(06:49):
That was really fun.
And then for football, likeI've never played tackle
football until seventh grade Iwas actually too scared to play.
I had joined in like fourthgrade and I came to like the
first like three practices and Iwas like, yeah, nah, I can't do
this.
It was too scary for me becauseI was so little and I didn't
even know what track was until Igot here.

(07:11):
It was a really cool experienceto be able to get these
opportunities now.
Man, never in a million yearsdid I ever think I'd be able to
be recruited by colleges andfeel wanted in that type of way,
and I just couldn't be moreblessed.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah, once you got here, your mom said you really
had a lot of self-motivation.
You kind of jumped in and youwere in basketball, football,
all that stuff, like right,right from the get.
Absolutely, how did you?
How did you find high jumping?
When did you get into that?
My freshman year?
You're always bouncy noactually.
No, I know, colin, you playedfreshman with him in basketball

(07:48):
right.
Not always bouncy, get a littlebit okay all right, a little
something a little something,yeah, a little something a
little something.

Speaker 5 (07:57):
Yeah, freshman year I got into it.
Uh, wasn't very good, if I'mbeing honest, but it was my
first time ever doing it and Iwas like you know what I'm
determined I'm going to get goodat this specifically and I want
to be able to show people thatI'm actually like collegiate,
like talent.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
I want to be able to show people that I can do things
that anybody else can do andand every day you go to practice
you get to work with one of ourgreat young coaches, uh, who
was a really high level highjumper in in college at hope and
addie garrig yes, she's great.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Couldn't appreciate her more colin, you're raising a
family that is very involved insports.
I've known your family for avery long time.
Your dad played baseball here,your mom played softball.
I don't know if you rememberthis, but I meet.
I remember meeting you guys inthird grade little panthers
basketball.
You remember that team.

Speaker 6 (08:45):
A little bit.
I have pictures of it, so Iremember it a little bit.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah, we rocked that league.
We went undefeated, won thechampionship.
That's a little shout out toour team back in the day, but
you've played a lot of teams.
I mean, you're a baseballpitcher now, that's what you
focused on, but you've played alot of sports here at West
Ottawa too, right, you've playedfootball, you've played
basketball you played baseball,yep.

Speaker 6 (09:04):
And then in middle school I did swim and cross
country as well, you did yeah,okay, so you've done a lot.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
What are some of your fond memories of playing
baseball as a?

Speaker 6 (09:11):
youngster.
Um, I think the one that reallylike resonates with me is my
first ever no hitter at quincy.
I remember the field exactlyand I never thought I'd be able
to do something like that youthrew a no, no-no.
So yeah, I remember throwing myfirst no-no.

Speaker 4 (09:25):
That was his first.
That's really special, whichmeans there have been others
Multiple no-nos.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
How old were you at the time you?

Speaker 6 (09:31):
think.
I think I was probably thirdgrade, so I don't know.
What is that?
Nine years old, so I think thatwas how old I was at the time.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
How much candy were you able to take out of the
Roloff's candy bag after that?

Speaker 6 (09:44):
A lot, a lot of candy that day.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Yeah, being part of the on teams with the Roloff
family is Lisa.
Roloff brings this massive bagof candy.
So whatever bag you have athome, that is just way larger
than it should be.
That's the bag she carries forcandy.

(10:08):
So being on the peripheral ofthe R-off family at sporting
events is a good place to be.
There are days that I swing bythe press box of baseball just
to hit the candy bag.
Yeah, it's definitely there.
In sixth grade you kind of takea turn though.
You start taking baseball alittle serious and you start
seeing a pitching coach.

Speaker 6 (10:17):
I believe it was Jason Benson, is that right
Correct?
Talk about him a little bit.
So it was the first time I everreally wanted to get working
with somebody, and he knew mydad in high school and I heard
that he played professional.
I knew he played at GrandValley, so I went there for one
time and I knew that this wasthe guy I wanted to work with.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
He's got a lot of energy too.
He's got some what do you havemoxie to him.
He really has got it Like.
He's got some attitude and he'svery, like, confident.
That's a good guy to be around.
That's getting to know you guysa little bit, just a smidgen,
because there's way more to you.
But the reason we're on thispodcast really is because of

(10:54):
some injuries.
One thing for us as sports fansand Bill's, of course, the AD
is we hear about your injuries,bill.
What do you remember abouthearing about Brandon's?

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Yeah, so Brandon's I actually got to witness.
Was that first home track meetlast year, Brandon?
Yes, yeah.
So typically in years past I'dalways work the high jump pit
because we're always looking forsomebody.
It can be a little bitcomplicated because of the way
that it's set up, but I knewthat later in the year I was
going to have to be clerk of thecourse, which is a whole nother

(11:23):
dynamic.
You're checking in literallyevery kid who runs, did you say?
clerk of the course.
Clerk of the course, that's agood title for whatever it is.
So I was going to be clerk ofthe course for another meet, so
I was like trying to get sometraining on it.
I'm standing at the start,finish.
I look over, there's acelebration, I see the trainers

(11:45):
on their way over, and then theygot him out, put him on a chair
for a little bit, got him someice.
Then the cart came shortlythereafter.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
And we'll get more into that.
Colin, I heard about yours fromHudson, so I'm sitting at home
and he goes yeah, colin Roloffneeds surgery.
Heartbreak, like, literally mychest just sunk, that one hurt.
And then, avery, I heard aboutyou from my wife, alyssa Blanca,
who's one of your coaches, andthis was, I believe, may or June

(12:14):
or July, whatever it was.
But yeah, she's having surgery.
She tore her ACL.
Yeah, I got that text message.
And I don't know if you guys seethis or not at all, that text
message.
And I don't know if you guyssee this or not at all, but
because sometimes I thinkathletes don't know the impact
you have on a community.
But like everybody out there islike oh no, oh no, oh no.
So we all kind of go throughthat when that happens not alone

(12:39):
, like the whole community feelsit.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah, so let's go back to, I guess, really the
first injury to come aboutamongst you three, and Colin you
get to lead us off for that.
So you kind of walk us throughkind of what led to it.
You know, Tommy John hasobviously become really a very
popular surgery.
I guess.
I should say I saw a statisticthe other day that there were
more Major League Baseballplayers that had Tommy John last

(13:03):
year than the previous nineyears combined.
So the injury is on the uptick.
Yep, probably because guys arejust throwing harder all the
time.
Right, it's just max out.

Speaker 6 (13:14):
Yeah, so I think part of the main reason it was is
because overuse during the offseason.
I wanted to be the best playerI could, so I started throwing
six times a week, which is a lot, a lot of stress on your body.
Um, I didn't really know whatlike intent to throw it, so I
threw max every time, like youwere saying.
And then in the spring I threwa thousand pitches that season,

(13:37):
which took a big toll on my body.
But every time I wanted likethe coach wanted to pull me, I'd
say no and I push him awaybecause I wanted to go as long
as I could.
And then in June uh, it waswhen it happened and I didn't
feel it.
I didn't feel a pop, nothing.
Uh, I went back to the dugoutafter the inning and I couldn't
lift my arm above my head, likeI had tingles in my fingers.

(13:59):
I didn't really know what itmeant.
I thought it was just sorenessand the adrenaline was wearing
off.
But yeah, that's when it reallyhappened.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
And what happens a lot with that, too right is, you
don't know that that's happened, but you start losing velocity
and control with some of yourpitches right.
Did that start to happen to?

Speaker 6 (14:16):
you, yeah.
So I think it was the secondinning.
I went out because I told mycoach, no, I pushed him away,
let me go back out there.
And I just didn't feel right.
I couldn't throw the ball whereI wanted to.
I think the velocity dropped.
I think it was five to sixmiles an hour and it was just
dropping more and more.
And that's when I really knew,like yeah, it's wild to me.

Speaker 4 (14:39):
I played a little bit of high school baseball I don't
know that dudes when I was inschool and maybe this is a sign
of being an old man now I was inhigh school in the late 90s.
We had no idea what everybodywas throwing.
We just knew like, oh, that guythrows hard.
Baseball's become sostat-driven right.
Every home baseball game we'vegot what?

(15:02):
Five or six dudes sitting uprecorders on the back of the
dugouts and we're trickingpitches all the time.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
It's pretty wild.
A lot of pressure to throw allthat kind of stuff.
You don't right.
When that injury starts, thoughyou don't really do anything
yet.
You kind of pitch through itand then you go to a showcase at
Comerica Park Tell us aboutwhat happened there.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
Yeah.
So my parents wanted to get itchecked out initially and it was
about two weeks before theshowcase.
But I mean, the experience waslike too much to pass up on.
I didn't want to bail on it andget it checked out, and I was
also worried about being shutdown.
I didn't want to like take timeoff because I knew I wanted a
big season ahead.

(15:43):
So I decided to push like offgetting it checked out and go to
the showcase and I mean, beingon that field was such a cool
experience.
I just didn't want to pass thatup.
So I went there and I waswarming up and I still didn't
feel like myself.
I thought that the two weekswould be enough time and found
out it wasn't.
Oh, so you?

Speaker 2 (16:02):
took a two-week break , yeah, before you went there,
yep, and you were hoping for thebest.
Yes, there's a lot of that,isn't there?
Athletes with our injurieswhere we hope it's not as bad as
we think it is?
Absolutely yeah, we'll get intothat.

Speaker 4 (16:14):
And Colin at that point, how much did you weigh?
At that time you were skinny.

Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah, I was real skinny.
I think I was probably rightaround 150, 155.
I think that's what I wasaround.

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Does that play into that injury For sure?

Speaker 6 (16:31):
I think the stat is it's 2% of people who throw 90
or above are below 180 poundsand my goal was 90, but I was
155 pounds and how much I wasthrowing.
My body could not handle thatand I think that the muscle
breaking down over time therewasn't much muscle to break down
155 pounds and how much I wasthrowing.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
My body could not handle that and I think that the
muscle breaking down over time.
There wasn't much muscle tobreak down and you've changed
that.
Yeah, You're not 150 pounds now, Not anymore.

Speaker 6 (16:56):
What are you weighing in at right now?
Right now, I'm about 195, 198.
Dang.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
He's going to be throwing gas Avery, avery.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Vendelin Avery, Avery , Vandellen, Avery.
Yours happened in an AAU gamewhich you have played in so many
over the years.
But yours was interestingbecause it was a contact injury.
Can you walk us through whathappened to you?

Speaker 1 (17:15):
Yeah, so I was playing a tournament at GVSU
actually, so I remember thecourt, I remember the day.
Oh, boy it was a 1 o'clock gameversus example sports.
I think I had broken the press,like just beat this girl down
the court and it was a reallyphysical game.
This girl just shoves me frombehind and my knee, like I was

(17:39):
planting my knee, and it justgoes backwards and like twists
inside.
That was.
That was like the worst painI've ever felt, like I kind of
went down and like lost mybreath, like I couldn't breathe,
like that's how bad it hurt andI just knew.
My first thought was I justruined my senior year.

(17:59):
I knew immediately likesomething wasn't right, but
obviously I didn't want tobelieve it.
I couldn't get up by myself.
So my dad wasn't actually there.
He was taking my brother to asoccer game on the other side of
the state.
So my best friend's dad and AAUteammates dad had to carry me
off the court over to the bench.

Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, it was pretty rough, but I think what's tough
to hear about that one too, andyour mom said this if you have a
non-contact injury, it wasgoing to happen regardless, but
a contact not necessarily yeah,do you ever feel.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Part of that was feeling that stuff got taken
from you a little bit huh yeah,I was definitely like very angry
when I found out like what theextent actually was.
There was a lot of regret.
Why did I have to go to thatgame?
Like why, what if I would havecrossed over in that moment,
rather than just continuing togo straight down the sideline

(18:56):
like I don't know, it's just Idon't know, it's just tough pill
to swallow for you don't thinkit's as bad as might be, though,
because you go see four doctorsand they all say what they all
say to you yeah, they thought myknee was completely healthy.
well, not healthy, but theythought it was strong, like

(19:18):
there's no way it could havebeen anything torn.
And then I finally see one.
He was like it might be ameniscus.
That was after six weeks, right, so that's the only reason I
ended up getting an MRI.
I mean I was running on itcompletely fine After a few
weeks I've been working withFrank.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Were you able to do lateral movements?

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Not really.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
No A telltale sign right.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
Tough yeah, like it just felt unstable, but it
didn't really hurt all that muchand I didn't have like full
range of motion by that pointand then you go and have surgery
in june yep, june 28, 2024, Ibelieve.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Yep, colin, we'll go back to yours, but yours was in
september of 2023, correct?
Yeah, so two big surgeries,definitely huge timetables in
front of you, colin.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
I believe yours was 12 to 18 months, yep, and yours
was 9 to 12 9 to 12 all right,it's wild that it was acl, right
, yeah, that an acl.
Now is nine months.
You know that two decades ago,an acl is like you have a giant
zipper on the front of your knee.
You might be done forever andand now it's just wild

(20:26):
Technology and the way thatsports medicine has come a long
way.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
We talked about Brandon, yours a little bit Now.
Yours is very different, Very,Very different.

Speaker 5 (20:37):
Walk us through what happened to you so this is the
first home meet of the trackseason against Jenison.
This is last year.
This was last year, correct.
I was going this.
It kind of all occurred becauseof I was long jumping and I had
really bad landings, so likeI'd land and then I'd like roll
over onto, like the concrete orI'd like what's going on.

(21:02):
I don't know, it was really badlandings, like it's early in
the season.
It was really bad landings,it's early in the season.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
It was really early in the season, so rusty.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
I didn't really want a long jump that year but I kind
of had to because we were downsome long jumpers at the time.
But thank God we got some guysthat stepped up later on in the
year so I didn't have to.
I go to go high jump after I'mdone with my last long jump and
we're at like five, eight Ithink is what it was at, and I

(21:33):
remember just going up I jumped,I'm over the bar and then I
just feel like just a pop andI'm like what was that?
And I landed.
I like I cleared the height too, which was crazy.
Uh, didn't expect that, but Ikind of just felt this pop and I
was just laying there in a lotof pain and I remember my mom
and the trainers all came overand my mom was like oh, you're
fine.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Yeah, I talked to your mom on the phone and your
mom's a nurse as well, right, Imean, your mom is a nurse too,
Avery, and she goes.
My baby's being a baby Prettymuch, yeah.

Speaker 5 (22:01):
Kind of just told me to suck it up, you're fine, and
I was like, all right, maybeshe's right, so I go sit down in
this chair that they pulled upfor me and I'm there for maybe
like 10 minutes, and they werelike, well, all right, well, try
and get up and try and walk.
And I was like I stood up and Iknew I wasn't going to be able

(22:22):
to walk because I couldn't evenlift up my right leg, like
because I couldn't even lift upmy right leg.
It was terrible.
Never would I wish that on myworst enemy.
That pain was terrible.
I had to get carted off thetrack because obviously I
couldn't walk.
I've never used crutches a dayin my life so I didn't know how
to use crutches.
And I remember Grace, grace,shout out, grace.

(22:45):
She was like oh, I need you totry and sit down in the in the
seat.
I was like, okay, and I triedto lift that leg up and I
couldn't.
But they literally had to, likebasically not necessarily toss
me, but they had to, like flipme onto the cart and my mom,
they called my mom and she cameback and they like slid me into
the back seat and we rushed tothe er you go to the er for
years.
Yep, I was there for like threeand a half hours and then what's

(23:09):
your prognosis?
Um, it was an avulsion fracturein the right hip.
Basically, the tendons were toostrong and pulled the um piece
of bone out from where it wassupposed to be, where it was
attached from.
Normally people have surgeryfrom it.
But doctor kind of just told melike you probably won't need

(23:29):
surgery, you just need a lot ofrest.
And they told me I was out foranywhere from like six to six
weeks to maybe like two months.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
So not the longest recovery, but long enough for
you to lose your season Correct.
You guys go through all thisstuff.
It gets hectic, right ER visits, doctor visits, all that kind
of stuff is happening, but theredoes come a time where you get
that first moment alone.
So we're going to, we're goingto dive down a little bit here,

(24:00):
guys.
You get that first moment alone, wherever it might be.
I remember maybe it's the daybefore your surgery or whatever
that case is.
Everybody else has gone to bed,put your phone aside, things
have settled down and it's justyou with you.
Colin, do you remembersomething like that or a moment
that stands out to you?

Speaker 6 (24:19):
yeah, I remember I just had finished up at work and
I drove to a parking lot justto sit there and like resonate,
and I know that I like turnedoff my phone and I just sat
there and I looked up and, um,it really hit me in that moment
that there was a chance I mightnever play again.
I remember going up onto theroof and I know that was like

(24:42):
just like look up at the stars,really like let it settle in,
and um, I think, um, yeah, howare you?

Speaker 2 (24:54):
Yeah, what was the feeling like doing that?

Speaker 6 (24:57):
I didn't.
I kind of felt emotionless.
I just sat there and I realizedthis is going to be a long
journey if I do take the journey, because there is a choice of
going the no surgery route andjust being done or doing the
surgery, and I just thought it'sgoing to be a long road ahead.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
The vast unknown right.
What's coming up?
A lot of anxiety, a lot ofworry.
How about you, avery?

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah.
So once I found out that like Ineeded surgery, I like didn't
believe it, like obviously myknee felt fine, I didn't really
feel like I needed surgery thatmuch, but obviously, like to
play again, that was what wasnecessary.
So I remember in the surgerycenter I was like laying in the

(25:44):
bed and like the surgeon comesin and he like writes his
initials on your leg.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
So they do the right one.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Yeah, so they do the right one.
And I just lost it.
Like yeah, like couldn'tbreathe.
I was like panicking a littlebit.
Oh sorry, but yeah, I was likecrying.
Like my dad was like wow, likeI didn't expect to see you like
that, you were so brave for that.
Like yeah, that's when I likereally knew like that was going

(26:14):
to be a long road, you know.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, and it really hurts to.
When you're going to thatsurgery too.
You're going on underanesthetic.
You know, it's like your mindstarts to go to places.
Am I going to wake up from this?

Speaker 4 (26:26):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
Like we all you know, very unrealistic, but in the
moment it's not.
You know, it's really reallytough to to face that.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
And Brandon, you're in the middle of a really at the
start of a track season,correct, and the track season
ends up being really special forour boys' program.
Right, we really raised thelevel last year.
What was it like for you tothen be back out on the track
not being able to participate,but you were still there
supporting your teammates.

Speaker 5 (26:55):
Honestly, at first, uh, I kind of just dreaded being
there because, honestly, whenthe injury happened I kind of
just felt like my life was likestripped away from me um like I
don't know.
I just had, like this, reallylike big passion for track and I
was like dang well, this mightbe it, like I don't know if I'll

(27:16):
even be able to come back.
And the doctor had also told melike you might have to miss
some of your football season too.
And it was just it was hardBecause sports is like I kind of
found my identity.
But being back out there on thetrack, definitely at the first
few weeks, was very dreadful.
Definitely didn't want to bethere sometimes.
But I kind of talked to CoachAddie and we talked and she was

(27:39):
like listen, I know you can'tjump right now, but you should
try coaching some of the youngerguys up, the JV guys up.
I go, you know what it's a goodidea and we go to.
We went to Rockford and me andJake Sonderman were out and we
were like you know, let's coachup the guys.
This meet so she can go focuson the long jumpers, coached up

(28:03):
some of the guys and we got someguys do some PRs.
John beat them, I think hejumped like five, six.
That day I got CJ Guillermoback up to himself at 5'10" and
it just felt really good to putout the good out there and just
be able to allow my leadershipskills to take control and show

(28:26):
people that, no matter whathappens, no matter what
obstacles happen, there's alwayssomething good that's always
going to come out of it and justpour it into other people.

Speaker 4 (28:35):
So what I'm hearing is that, upon collegiate
graduation, you're going to comeback and coach some track here
at West Ottawa.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
I definitely would love to.
That's what I'm hearing Soundslike it.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
You guys go through a lot.
It's a very tough place to be.
Whenever there's something bad,there's always something good,
absolutely.
I'm sure in the beginning whenthis happens, you get this wave
of support All of a.
And I'm sure in the beginningwhen this happens, you get this
wave of support Also.
And all these people surroundyou let's maybe talk about that
who came around you during yourtime, avery, want to share that
with us.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
So a lot of the basketball team came around.
For sure, I had a lot offriends from, like, my club
soccer teams and AAU team comearound, and even your wife, like
Miss Vellllinga, came and justlike spent time with me and my
mom.
So, yeah, you get.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
You get a few people that came around.
That was.
That was a bit of a surprise.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
You're like oh, wow, yeah I was like wow, I I didn't
expect people to come visit meand stuff like that.
Like that was pretty specialcolin?

Speaker 2 (29:33):
how about yourself?
What was it like for you?
You have your surgery.
There's some really fun notsafe for work videos out there
about your anesthesia which wewon't get into.
I'll probably cut it out, but Ijust needed to say it out loud.
But what was it like for you?
You know you have your surgeryand then you're home, and what
kind of support did you see?

Speaker 6 (29:50):
Yeah.
So I think one of the mostspecial moments I remember is
getting a gift basket droppedoff.
I was not expecting that.
I was sidelined on the couchfor seven days and then a bunch
of texts from my old coaches.
I was not expecting that.
Coach Knobber, I remember,messaged out and that one really
hit me hard, especially becauseI didn't play for him much.

(30:10):
I remember the new coaches here.
I had parents from my buddies.
I had a bunch of people like Ibarely even talked to in the
community.
Come, reach out and come visit,and that was very special.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
How'd that make you feel to have that?

Speaker 6 (30:24):
Um, it felt really good, to be honest, uh,
especially cause I wanted topush people away.
Uh, I felt like it'd be betterif I just like tough it out and
like get through this myself,but having that support group
around me really helped me yoursis a bit shorter, a little bit,
but it's good to talk aboutdifferent ones.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
What was it like for you the first week?

Speaker 5 (30:45):
or two.
Um, the support was justthrough the roof, like coaches,
even mr kennedy, like I remember.
I came to school like thatfollowing day.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
You got your Jimmy Johns that day no.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
Jimmy Johns that day.
Okay, but I did see Mr Kennedyand we talked and he was like I
just pray for a speedy recoveryfor you and everything will be
good.
And it was just a lot of peoplethat I didn't even like talk to
normally was coming up to meand I just felt really loved by
a lot of people and I talked tolike the entire track team

(31:20):
because I remember I had tobreak the news down to them Like
I probably won't jump againthis year and I just felt the
utmost amount of love andsupport from them, from the both
girls and boy side of the teamand I couldn't appreciate all of
them more.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
After that first wave of support, all of a sudden,
life starts to continue foreverybody else.
Everybody else goes to practice, yep, everybody else is
shooting hoops, pitchers arepitching.
Whatever the case may be, yourday-to-day changes immediately
and a lot of athletes go throughthat.

(31:57):
You know, do I matter?
What was it like?
This is the hard part of this,talking about it, but like what
emotions did you start to feelafter that wave of support?
And all of a sudden, you guysgot to deal with daily life now
and maybe Colin, you can speakto that first.
How did that affect you?
Did you get angry?

(32:17):
Were you sad?
What kind of different emotionsdid you go through?

Speaker 6 (32:20):
Yeah, so after surgery I became a really
negative person to be around,like that's just the truth.
I pushed people away.
Like I was saying earlier, Ialways had these angry emotions,
negative emotions, and whenpeople would try to like make me
a more positive person, I feltlike just shutting that down and
just trying to have the toughguy mentality and the day-to-day

(32:44):
life definitely changed bigtime.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Brandon, your mom said you weren't yourself for a
couple of weeks.
What happened to you?
My experience with you isyou're always always up, you're
always smiley, alwaysinteracting with people around
you, and she was a littleworried that guy was
disappearing.

Speaker 5 (33:00):
Yeah, I got.
I fell into a really, reallydark place.
Um kind of grew on to like adepression, I guess you can say
I didn't.
It kind of got to a point where, like I wasn't eating, um, I
wasn't very like interactivewith everybody, I kind of just
gave up on school, like it was.

(33:20):
It was really bad and I hate tosee my.
I hated seeing myself in thatsituation because I know that's
not me and it was hard to justsee like my mom even knew, like
we, she was trying to talk to meand I just give her the very
like, very minimal little onesyllable answer.
Pretty much yeah, and it wasjust one syllable or a few
sentences and or I'll just belike I'm not really feeling

(33:41):
talking about it right now and Iwas pushing away a lot of
people.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Avery, I talked to your mom about you.
She said you never got downdown but it was very emotionally
difficult for you.
Can you share your experience?

Speaker 1 (33:53):
yeah.
So I mean it was like more sothe anxiety before surgery that
got to me.
But then after surgery Irealized like I need to stop
feeling sorry for myself.
You know, I just needed to getup like nine months.
At that point it feels like nolight at the end of the tunnel,
but like I just locked in andreally started focusing on like

(34:15):
what I needed to do to getbetter.
Locked in and really startedfocusing on like what I needed
to do to get better.
I mean I was trying to get myrange of motion back.
Like obviously, acl surgeriesare pretty painful surgery, so
I've dealt with like a lot ofphysical pain, so I was just
trying to make that go away.
Honestly, it was in the dead ofsummer, so like there's nothing
else Summer too for you.
Yeah, there's like nothing elseI could focus on, so pretty much

(34:38):
focusing on myself, you know,so you're able to you.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
You, you had this huge emotional I guess I don't
know what to call it an outburst.
But I think we all need thatright.
We need some way to kind ofshed all that inner pain and get
it out of it, and yours kind ofcame out and you were able to

(35:01):
settle into something good foryou.
Yeah, um, even with a lot ofbad going on, you guys, there's
still a lot of fun that I'mgoing to do this, because I've
had injuries too, and I minewere when I was older, so it's
not that big a deal.
What?
What did I lose?
Nothing, I mean, but anyways,but there's always some
positives that come out of this.
Did you get to binge watchanything during the summer,
avery?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
I'm not going to lie.
I binge watched Adam Sandlermovies all the time, that's
awesome.
I mean never fail to make melaugh.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
No kidding right.
What's your favorite go-to AdamSandler movie?

Speaker 1 (35:33):
Grown Ups 110%.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
Good choice.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
When you watch Grown Ups with your 8, with your eight
and nine and ten year olds byaccident, not the best choice is
what I did once.
This looks good.
No, it doesn't.
It's pretty fast.
How about you, colin?
Um, yeah, get into that too.

Speaker 6 (35:49):
Yeah, I got into playing darts more often with my
brother are you serious so yeah, I did that and I watched
breaking bad for the first timebut you're going, lefty darts,
do that, lefty darts, oh sweetso yeah, I started um watching
breaking bad too, and that wasthe first time I've ever watched
.
That finished the whole thingamazing show I couldn't get into
it.

Speaker 5 (36:09):
No, yours was again.

Speaker 2 (36:09):
Yours is different because yours is shorter.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Yeah, right, are you talking more, breaking bad you
breaking.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Oh, I thought you mean just binging in general.

Speaker 5 (36:17):
You tried Breaking Bad.
Okay, I tried it.
I started watching a lot ofjust TV shows like random, like
my mom was watching, like she'llwatch a Grey's Anatomy.
I'm going in there with her,I'm going to go watch Grey's
Anatomy with her, because just Imean, it was interesting.
There was that I was watching alot of uh like upcoming, like
netflix, like documentaries, um,they had came out with that, um

(36:41):
jeffrey dommer documentary ohgreat and I I watched the entire
thing.
I thought, oh, fantastic it wasnuts.
I didn't say it was good, but itwas, it was, it was something
all right.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Well, that'll help you get out of that dark place.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
Yeah, you gave me something to do Watching Dahmer.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
You know there's some other things that go on too.
You know, be honest.
I want you to be honestSelf-fear Did you ever find
yourself taking advantage ofyour situation Like can I have a
slushie today?
Or you know what sounds good AFrosty?
Absolutely yeah.
Did you do that?

Speaker 5 (37:15):
Larry man, I lay down in bed Sometimes I'd actually
not be in pain and I just tellmy mom like yeah, like my hip
hurts a lot, like can you makeme this?
Or this and she'll do it.
Shout out, mom.
But yeah, sometimes I liedabout the, uh, the injury, how,
how about you, avery?

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean, I was like laid upafter surgery so I could get
around, though I was on crutchesfor like a week but after that
like I could get around bymyself.
But I would just be like dad,can you make me food?
Just because yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Yeah, you can pull it off, Colin.
How?

Speaker 6 (37:54):
about you, man?
Yeah, so I do not cook one bit.
So I got all the meals Irequested.
Very lucky for that, Shout outmom.
But I took advantage of it fullheartedly.
Asked three times a day forfood, they would bring me the TV
remote when I was on the othercouch so I can turn stuff on all
kinds of drinks run to thestores they would go make for me

(38:15):
.
So yeah, took advantage of it.

Speaker 4 (38:18):
It seems way cooler to be living at home when you're
going through injury, asopposed to what I did.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
Okay, Bill.
I was living with nine other.
Tell us your story.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
I was living with nine other football guys.
I wasn't saying hey, jay, yougo get me some pizza puffs or
something you know yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
You didn't get that benefit.
No, you didn't get that benefit.
No, living with your boys, no.
And then I mean, did you, didyou take that even farther, like
, did you get to the point whereyou were like pretty far past
what you need and it's like, uh,you need to take out the trash
tonight, oh man, I don't know myheels.
Yeah, I kind of took advantage,yeah you're getting near the end
now hopefully all three of youbut uh, you can certainly do it

(38:53):
for a while.
Let's keep moving forward.
Now, brandon, let's go to yours.
Your period of rest andrecovery is ultimately short, so
, whatever that timeline, whatwas this timeline supposed to be
?

Speaker 5 (39:04):
It was like six weeks to two months, okay, and then
what happens to you?
I came back in four and a halfweeks and I remember the day I
got cleared and I had calledCoach Gehrig and I was like,
yeah, yeah, I just got cleared.
She was like you can jump and Iwas like, oh, I mean I couldn't
.
I mean it was a little it wasreal shaky of an answer.

(39:24):
But I went out to JV conferencebecause I mean I didn't know
what I could do at the timebecause I just came back from an
injury no practice, nothing andI ended up going there.
I remember my first jump at5-2" and I went under the bar
because I got scared and trippedmyself.
And then the second attempt, Ifinally locked in and did it and

(39:44):
I kind of just went back tomuscle memory and then ended up
jumping 6'2" that day, all-timePR.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Come on and had a meet record.
It doesn't make any sense, itdoesn't?
I mean you should have atrophywhile you're out.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
That's an okay red JV meet record, so that's not just
like a bunch of random smallschools.

Speaker 5 (40:03):
This is the best of the best and our guys got the
meet record after weeks off,yeah, and we had three West
Ottawa guys go top three forthat too.

Speaker 2 (40:16):
Colin, you're faced with a 12 to 18 month recovery.
This is a very long period oftime for both you and Avery, so
I know there's a lot more inthere than we're going to be
able to get to.
But when did things start toturn for you?
When did you come out of that,what you were in, and how did it
start to change for you?

Speaker 6 (40:32):
Yeah.
So I really think it started tochange Once I got my range of
motion back.
We completed some of thestrength program and I got
cleared to hit for the firsttime and that was like one of my
all-time high of highs.
No kidding.
I was at practice taking swingson the sideline and then a
little bit after that, I startedmy throwing program and I was
so pumped up.

(40:53):
I was throwing tennis ballsalong the wall all day long.
I was doing more than Iprobably should have because I
was just so pumped up.
Nobody was stopping me.
How about yourself, avery?

Speaker 1 (41:04):
Yeah.
So I feel like the three monthmark that's like the standard to
get cleared to jog.
So I was so happy to be clearedto just move, more than just
walk, you know, and I everychance I got I was like jogging
or moving faster than I wasbefore, and right now I'm seven

(41:25):
and a half months out.
So like I'm cleared forpractice, like I just not
contact stuff I'm, I'm doingeverything that I can yeah, I
didn't know where you were andand I talked to your coach last
night.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Yeah, she's moving really well, she's able to do
this, she's able to move.
I go, she going lateral.
Oh yeah, she's going great.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
So it must be awesome to get back in the gym and get
some shots up.

Speaker 1 (41:47):
It's great I it's awesome Like it close.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
You know march 28th that date at final clearance you
know, okay, you, you guys bothyou didn't know this you talked
about when you came in, butyou're have both done stuff with
eric hamilton at rehab forperformance.
They're out of.
You guys are doing out ofcrossfit in holland.
Yep, tell us about erichamilton and we'll talk about
him a little bit and what that'sbeen doing for you guys yeah.

Speaker 6 (42:14):
So I knew knew Eric before surgery from my cousin.
My cousin went to him afterhaving Tommy John surgery and my
surgeon recommended him, so Iknew that this was the guy to go
to.
Eric, he was never shy ofmotivating somebody.
He always pushed me to be thebest when I wanted to give up.

Speaker 2 (42:31):
He's young too.
He's a young dude.

Speaker 6 (42:33):
Yeah, when I wanted to give up, he would push me to
my limits, even if that was mepuking after rehab.
Um, really helped me change andflip the switch in my head that
it's go time yeah, I mean eric.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
I'm currently doing like two appointments a week
with him right now and it'sinsane workouts like I.
If I eat before that, like it'snot staying down, I'm not gonna
like I need to plan seriousyeah, I mean, it's hard stuff.
He played college soccer atcornerstone, I think.
So he's like go, go, go, likeit's tough, and then he'll do

(43:12):
like finish.
Oh my goodness, those areterrible.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
That's it, tell us.

Speaker 1 (43:18):
I think my last one it was like a cardio, it was all
cardio, so I had to do sixseconds sprinting on the
treadmill and those treadmillsat that place are like special
ones, like for athletes, andit's just.
I almost felt like I I wasgonna fall off of it, like I've
never those ones.

Speaker 2 (43:40):
I got you.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Yeah, yeah, curve, yeah and then I there's, like
the skier machine he had, hemade me get thanks for doing the
motion.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
By the way, I wouldn't have known what you
meant yeah, there's.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
It's like I had to get 12 calories on that and
there was two different types ofbikes.
I had to get 12 calories on onebike and then I had to do like
500 meters on the other, andthen a rowing machine.
I had to get like 700 meters onthat or something like that,
and I had to do it for threesets.
It was just terrible.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Like I was never worked harder in my life brandon
, how thankful are you for yourdifferent injury In retrospect.

Speaker 5 (44:20):
Compared to these two , I can definitely say I'm very
thankful that I didn't have todo all that.
But I got the choice to chooseto either work out with the
trainers here or work out withactual physical therapists.
And I was like, well, this isalready very expensive and I
don't really want to put moreonto my mom.
And so I was like you know, I'mgonna go work out with the

(44:41):
trainers and shout out Grace andChris, yeah, your mom couldn't
say enough about them.
Yeah, they, oh man, I couldn'tthank them more.
They were great, keeping me inhigh spirits and I know a lot of
it comes from just being ableto like keep your head down and
locking in and wanting to comeback, and they kind of just kept
me there and staying focusedand helping me mentally.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
You guys start moving out of this isolation that
you're in.
So you move from this rest andrecovery moment, spending time
alone, and then you start doingthis what happens socially, now
that you're doing some of thisrehab and getting into that?
What starts to change in yourlife?

Speaker 6 (45:19):
yeah.
So I remember that after beingable to throw at practice for
the first time, I went up to theteammates and I joined in on
throwing for the first time andjust being able to talk with the
guys, like that um being withthem as a team while being able
to throw, um, it really helpedme like motivate myself more too
.
And talking with the coachesand everybody at practice, being

(45:40):
able to participate, reallylike helped me instate the drive
.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
And then you effectively and this is very
impressive to me because I wasable to do some announcing for
baseball and who is out thereall last season doing all the
little work you effectivelybecome a team manager.
Right, you're doing lineupcards, you're raking the mound.
You didn't have to do that, butwhy did you do that?

Speaker 6 (46:05):
I felt like I wanted to contribute to the team even
though I wasn't playing.
I felt like being a part of theteam was one of the things I
didn't want to lose.
I didn't want to feel like Iwould just sit on the sideline,
not talking with the guys, notbeing a part of the team.
So I started doing the moundwork with Coach Hoy.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Very nice work, by the way.

Speaker 6 (46:23):
I appreciate that.
I helped deliver you lineupcards, helped set those up, I
did pitch charts so I could helpdevelop game plans and I just
wanted to contribute to the teamas much as I could.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
One of the things I noticed about your baseball
season last year is your fit wasalways dialed in.
I mean flat bill Oakleys, it'sall true.
You look the part.
I can't wait to see it on themound.
I had to Avery similar for you.
You've kind of been that teammanager, the biggest cheerleader

(46:59):
on the bench, other than maybeSydney.
She's very loud when she'sthere with you.
What's that kind of been liketo be around your teammates and
still be a part of the season.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yeah, I mean, obviously this year is a rebuild
year off of last year, so Ijust wanted to like, these are
the girls that I've been playingwith my entire life, so I just
wanted to like support them,even though I couldn't play.
And I have aspirations to playin college.
I'm not committed yet oranything, but I know that they

(47:33):
cheer me on, so why can't Icheer them on even if I'm not
playing?
You know, yeah, and I obviouslylike got to go fill up their
water bottles and stuff, butyeah, that is.
And now that I'm like moreactive stuff, like I can be a
practice player Brandon'sactually one of our practice
players.

Speaker 5 (47:53):
Yeah.
Nice.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
So yeah, we, we get after it.

Speaker 4 (47:58):
So well I can, I'll tell you both when you do those
things and we know that you'resitting out because of injury
those things don't go unnoticedby just kind of general
population folks Certainly me.
I'm always looking at kids andhow, when they're met with
adversity, how are they going torespond to it, Because so much

(48:18):
of what you learn in playingsports is how to deal with that
adversity.
Things are going to happen inlife.
How are you then going toreturn and respond to those
things?
So kudos to you both for beingthere for your teammates.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Yeah, even off of that, like I've just gotten to
see basketball from a differentperspective.
I've learned so much, like fromthe x's and o's side and like
how to motivate players to dobetter if they're in like a
slump or something.
You know, it's just I don'tknow.
It's just been a pretty niceway to like cope with me not

(48:53):
being able to play.
Like I've just been able tolearn so much from this
experience.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
I you're another coach in the future, maybe what?

Speaker 2 (49:01):
are you guys all 18 years old?
Yep, just turned 18 you'rewiser than most after this.
Let me tell you that much,brandon yes, you that much,
brandon.
You get to go back first.
You get to go back in the sameseason that you get injured.
What can you tell these twoabout what that feeling is like?
Now I know Colin's done somelittle pitching.

(49:22):
You've been able to get towhere you are in your
non-contact.
What is it going to be like forthem when they get to go?

Speaker 5 (49:29):
back.
I'm telling you now, it's gonna.
It's the most surrealexperience that you'll ever like
feel like it's I couldn't bemore blessed and thankful in god
for allowing me to get to thisuh point and it's I I can kind
of lost for words on it, butit's just a really cool

(49:50):
experience and it feels reallygood to just be back out there
and completing with your friendsand you know, going out there
to go get some West Ottawa wins.
And it's nice because now thisyear I'm planning on going for
that school record for high jump, which is a six foot nine.
I'm beating Steve trip, I'mtelling you that now, um, mark

(50:11):
it nine.
I'm beating Steve Tripp, I'mtelling you that now Mark it
down.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
I'm marking it down.
It's on the podcast now.

Speaker 5 (50:15):
So I'm just excited and you guys will love it.
I'm telling you it's the bestexperience you will ever feel,
because you actually kind offeel like you got yourself back
to normal.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
I guess you could say , avery, you might get on the
floor on senior night.
Maybe you might get that seniornight start.
Yeah, that's the rumblings I'mhearing.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, it sounds like I'm going to start and I get to
have my first and last points inmy senior season.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
Are we going to go deep corner three it's not going
to be a layup, is it?
You're such a great three-pointshooter.
I was looking at a huddle today, by the way, and I forgot you
were a lefty.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, I'm a lefty.
I'm debating whether I shoot athree or not because I feel like
if I miss that'll be kind ofembarrassing.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
I'm running the clock so we can play around.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Yeah, so if I make a three, then the other team has
to make a three also.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Oh, that's true.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
So yeah, it is what it is.

Speaker 2 (51:06):
All right.
Well, I'm excited for it.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Yeah, me too.
It's going to be awesome.
Grateful that Chapman's givingme that opportunity, colin, for
you.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
You've come back a little bit already.
What's interesting for you isyou have this 12 to 18 month
timeline, but reality is you'rekind of ready, yeah, and you've
been ready for a while.
You do some pitching in thefall league.
Tell us about that experienceyeah.

Speaker 6 (51:28):
So I signed up for this fall league with a couple
of my buddies here Jake Wagnerand Quinn and I didn't think I
was gonna pitch.
I thought I was gonna hitmostly.
But I threw a little bit in thesummer so I kind of knew there
was opportunity for me to pitch.
And it was the first game and Italked to the coaches and a lot
of people weren't willing to gothrow.
So I had some kid go first andthen I was second and I took

(51:51):
pre-workout beforehand Like Iwas all juiced up so I already
had adrenaline going andcaffeine it was.
My head was spinning.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
I don't want to be in the batter's box when you're
coming out, right.

Speaker 6 (52:00):
It wasn't good and, like he said, it's a surreal
moment.
Walking out was one of the keymemories I'm going to have for
the rest of my life.
And it wasn't good.
I kind of struggled.
I threw about five pitches intothe net, but it was an awesome
moment.

Speaker 4 (52:17):
What it's going to be awesome to just watch you both
set back out there with WestOttawa or Panthers across your
chest.
I am so excited for that momentfor both of you.
Brandon, obviously I've gottento see you come back and what
you've done and yeah, it's goingto be a fantastic spring and it

(52:38):
is.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
it is coming up on us because we are like four weeks
away, yep, and it's go time yeah, so we got a baseball season
opens up on march 21 at mona.
Do you know, uh, where you arein this?
You might want to call that.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Shores.
You'll catch some static fromthe people from Mona Shores.
If you call it Mona, I alwayscalled it Mona.
And then our assistantprincipal, Brent Jandren, is a
graduate of Mona Shores and helooked at me like I had punched
him in the face or somethingwhen.

Speaker 2 (53:05):
I called it Mona Baseball season opens on 321 at
Shores.

Speaker 4 (53:09):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
Where do you think you'll, where do you think
you'll get that?

Speaker 6 (53:14):
first start.
I don't know because lineupsaren't set, but I'm hoping to be
one of the top conferencestarters.
I don't know if I want to pitchfor Mona.
It all depends on the coaching.
I kind of hope I do.
First game, first game back.

Speaker 4 (53:27):
Cold.

Speaker 6 (53:28):
I feel like it would be really cold.
I feel like that would be coolto get one of those
opportunities just to also easein.
So get the adrenaline all outof there and shake the rust off.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
Panther fans.
If you're interested in a greatsports story and you want to
see some magic, get out to this,start when this kid hits the
mound again.
It is going to be somethingspecial.
So let's stay on Instagram,let's get that posted so we all
know when that is.
And yeah, if you're a casualfan out there and you go to
sports once in a while, get thisone up.

(54:01):
Why not?
Girls soccer is 314 at homeversus Holland.
But I think that first.
Do you feel like your firstcomeback is basketball or do you
think it's going to be soccer?
What?
But I think that first.
Do you feel like your firstcomeback is basketball or you
think it's going to be soccer?

Speaker 1 (54:10):
What's it feel like for you?
Um, I'm not technically cleareduntil March 28th.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Right, so it's going to be a while yet, then.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah, it'll, it'll be soccer for sure.
Um, I'm going to miss like thefirst couple of weeks of the
season, but uh, I talked be onlimited minutes for the first
little bit.
The clearance process for ACLis like you have to be cleared

(54:39):
by your physical therapist andyou have to be cleared by your
surgeon, so I'm hoping it'sMarch 28th.
I don't know if I'm going toget that strength testing with a
physical therapist.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
But if it's not, it's okay.
Yeah, yeah, but guess what'sgoing to happen to you, Avery
Vendellin, what?
There's going to be a time whenyou're going to get subbed in
because they need your athleticability out in that field.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, and I'm looking forward to that day.
It's in the next couple monthshere.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
All right for that one too.
We're definitely going to be onthat.
What I find very interestingabout this for all three of you
is the short term was taken away, but your long term was not.
You guys all have plans to dothings after West Ottawa.
Yep, barry, you're planning onNorth Carolina A&T HBCU?
Tell us about that, yeah.

Speaker 5 (55:28):
Great school up in North Carolina.
I'm pretty sure it's inGreensboro Beautiful area.
My mom plans on moving to NorthCarolina so she was like if, if
you can go there, it'd be a loteasier for you, because then
you can just come home.
You know that doesn't sound toobad.
So I plan on going to visitthere within the next month or

(55:49):
so.
I'm really excited.
My mom has always kind of putit onto me like stressed on me
like you should go to an HBCU,Like you would love it there.
Cause, coming from Akron tohere, the culture change was
definitely a lot different.
It was really weird to be oneof the only black people in a

(56:09):
classroom and it was definitelya different experience.
I kind of at first, when I firstgot here, I kind of didn't
really show who I really was atfirst because I didn't know how
to express myself at the time.
But I met a good group of guysand I was able to kind of just
open up and now everybody knowsme as me and I'm just excited
for whatever the future holds.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
Know you as you, I mean.
You certainly make it easy toI'll say that much Colin Lansing
community college.
Yep, this is a jump off schooltoo, isn't it Like?
This is a cool place for you togo Talk to us about that.

Speaker 6 (56:44):
Yeah, so, um, I initially DM and tagged one of
the Lansing Community College'scoaches in my post on Twitter
and he reached out to me withinlike 10 minutes, I think it was.
I went on a call with him afterwork one day and he was a super
straight up guy and after thecall he felt like it was like my

(57:04):
next door neighbor.
Basically it felt like I wastalking to like somebody like I
knew for forever.
We got along like reallyquickly and I went and visited
there and it felt like home.
I walked on the campus and Iwanted that big school feel and
it had that big school feel.
I've been looking at them evenbefore surgery.
They were like one of the topdevelopmental JUCOs and they're
like second in Division II forlike win-loss in the past like

(57:28):
three, four years and I feellike this is the best
opportunity I have to reallyshowcase my skills and get
myself out there more.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
Yeah, that is one of those.
Unless you're in the baseballworld, you probably haven't
heard of LCC, but if you'reconnected to baseball at all, I
worked for the Lugnuts for aperiod of time, right around the
corner from LCC.
They just pump out dudesconstantly and a lot of it is
people like yourself who arecoming back off of that injury,

(57:56):
who need that opportunity justto go and prove themselves once
again.
And man, kudos to you for goingthere.
They got a gem for sure.

Speaker 2 (58:06):
Yeah, they send people to D1 too, right Arizona
State.
A lot of people get sent there,so it's a real jumping off
point.
Kudos for you for getting thattoo.
I mean despite your injury Tooka lot.

Speaker 6 (58:18):
I mean, come on, took a lot, so a lot of Twitter
posts, especially.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
What does it take to get that when you're injured?

Speaker 6 (58:27):
It's more potential based, I feel like, and it's
also a character.
You show your character and youshow like the potential you had
before surgery and after.
Some schools will kind of likedecline you because you had the
surgery, but they were one ofthose schools that they take
people in who have had that badof a surgery, like Tommy John,

(58:48):
and they work with you and Ifelt like that was for sure the
best spot.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
Avery.
You have multiple places youcan go Aquinas, albion, lawrence
University and this weekendyou're going to Point Park, a D2
in Pittsburgh.
Right yeah, tell us about thattrip you got all planned this
weekend.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
Honestly, I haven't seen an itinerary yet.
Okay, I'm not sure, but if,like, we're talking about
recruiting, I got her in the AAUgame so I had coaches like
watching me in that game andlike the Hope College coach just
straight up got up and leftafter I went down like oh gosh

(59:25):
and I mean it's been my lifelongdream to play basketball at
Hope College.
So like seeing that I wasgetting recruited by them and
then him leaving, that was likereally tough and I didn't have
any offers, like going up tothat point, so hearing that I
wore my ACL and didn't have anyoffers and I was like the

(59:46):
biggest recruiting period forbasketball, like that was really
tough.
Like I was scraping tooth andnail to get any offers.
I was getting in contact withcoaches and it was like two
weeks before surgery that I hadmy first visit with Lawrence.
That's the school in Appleton,wisconsin, and yeah, I mean the

(01:00:06):
coaches are awesome there.
I really loved my experiencethere.
And Albion I had never reallythought about playing there but
they're actually in Hope'sconference, so that would be
pretty cool to play against themDagger three to knock them out.
Yeah, kind of, but I had to fillout a recruiting form on their

(01:00:30):
athletics page and that's theonly reason they knew about me.
And I'm just going off of afilm from last year like I
didn't.
It was hard to get recruitedwith playing under somebody like
gabby reynolds, like she justlooks so good that everybody
else looks bad, you know so well, you never look bad to me when
you play.

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
I'll say that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
And as somebody that experienced college in
Pittsburgh, it's an awesome townto be a college-age student
there and Point Park's a greatschool, so good luck to you this
weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Permani Brothers.
Make sure you hit it, permaniBrothers.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
Yeah, I've been there .

Speaker 4 (01:01:06):
If you're in Pittsburgh, you have to go to
Permani Brothers.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Yeah, what's.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
Permani.

Speaker 4 (01:01:09):
Brothers.
Permani Brothers is like thickItalian bread, your choice of
meat cheese.
Okay, then they go.
French fries, coleslaw, oh wow,I hold the slaw.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
Okay, I probably would too, and it comes out of
this working class town.
So this is the steel workers.

Speaker 4 (01:01:26):
This was the steel workers meal.
This is what they would go eat.
Oh wow.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
That still sounds good.
It's legit.
Sounds like I need to go there,mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Oh, got to give a shout out.
Josie Cho's and Kate Adams.
They're a couple of my friendsfrom the Lawrence basketball
team, so, yep, just giving ashout out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Yeah, shout them out.
Anybody else want to shoutanybody out?
Why not?

Speaker 5 (01:01:45):
Let's.
I know I've said shout out tomy mom, but she would love to
hear this Shout out Big Tiff,appreciate you for everything
and thank you for just being bymy side for everything.
And shout out Grace and Chris,our athletic trainers.
Y'all are great.
I couldn't appreciate y'allmore.

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
Do I have permission to call her Big Tiff?

Speaker 5 (01:02:06):
Absolutely.
She wants everybody to call herBig Tiff.
It's so funny.

Speaker 6 (01:02:10):
Yeah, and then I'll shout out my surgeon, Dr LeBolt,
Checking in with him.
He always made the hospitalfeel like home.
Also, shout out my dad foralways pushing me to be the best
and never shying away fromteaching me good worth, I think.
Shout out Lisa Roloff's, Allthose texts you gave me.
Even though you know I hatedthem, I still always appreciate

(01:02:31):
them.
And the candy and the candy,the candy.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
As we finish up here, we're going to just ask a
couple of meaningful questions.
Somebody else is listening tothis and they're injured.
What advice would you give themto get through it?
Take your time, don't have toanswer quick.
You're going to talk tosomebody who just got injured.
You're going to talk tosomebody who just got injured.
They're going through stuff.
What?

Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
might you say to them ?
I would say like, focus onyourself and your mental health.
Like, especially if it's alongterm injury, it's going to
be tough at first but if youstart to see like the light in
these dark situations,everything will be fine and like
there is light at the end ofthe tunnel isolation.

Speaker 5 (01:03:16):
For sure you have to fight, because when you get in
isolation you kind of like youstart talking really negatively
and you kind of get really bad,negative thoughts about, um,
maybe other people or you'rekind of just like why did this
have to happen to me?
This should have happened tothis person and it's not fair.
But if I was to tell anybody,like, just stay true to yourself

(01:03:41):
and don't allow outsidedistractions and social media to
bring you down and social mediato bring you down, especially
mentally, because I rememberduring the isolation period I
was on social media a lot and Iwas seeing everybody else just
do so good, or I was watchingOlympic high jumpers just do

(01:04:03):
these crazy jumps, and I'd justget really jealous and like this
isn't fair, this is where Iwant to be, and now I'm here and
you're laying up in my bed, butanybody just push through.

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
Can we speak to that in a minute, because you guys
are both shaking your heads?
You were nodding when you saidthat, avery.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Yeah, I saw videos on like Twitter and stuff of like
people three days after surgerylike squatting 155 pounds, full
range of motion.
It's like there's no way.
That's, that's actually true.
Like it just made me feelterrible about like where I was
in my recovery.
Um, you just kind of have toremember like you're your own

(01:04:43):
person and your recovery is notgoing to be the same as somebody
else's.
So you need to like stayindependent, but like also don't
let the outside distractionsget to you.

Speaker 6 (01:04:54):
Like barry was saying everybody's journey is
different at the end of the day.
Some people might come backfaster, some might take longer,
but we all have the same goal atthe end of the day we all want
to reach the same finish lineand stay true to yourself, like
barry said.
Also, if I was to tell somebodywho had an injury, I'd say
reach out to people, don't keepstuff to yourself, whether it's

(01:05:16):
struggles, mental struggles,battles with depression.
Always reach out.
Don't hide anything.
Tell the truth.
So yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Wise beyond their years, rodney one day you're
going to be that 40 year old andsomeone's going to ask you what
happened to you in high school,and you're going to tell your
story and it's going to matter.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
So hang on to this stuff and I feel like having
another person on the basketballteam.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
Yeah, can we do a shout out to Jayla Means for a
minute, because she is a carboncopy of your injury was two
weeks later, yeah, somethinglike that.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
But she got her surgery like a month and a half
later or something.
So yeah, I mean, havingsomebody that's going through
the exact same thing and prettymuch the same timeline has been
so helpful, Like after a hardday of PT, like I can just text
her and she'll just be there andit's great, and like obviously
vice versa, like if she has atough day or she's like feeling

(01:06:17):
behind in her recovery, like wecan just help each other out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
So yeah, and she's been there with the team as well
, so kudos to her.
Well, I just want to thank youall for coming on.
You're all wonderful humanbeings, wonderful people.
In a few months, you won't behere anymore.
Like a year from now, you're allgoing to be in different places
.
This is going to matter for along time.
You guys sharing your storywith us.
We wish all three of you thebest spring sports season and

(01:06:43):
we're looking forward to seeingyou out there For everybody out
there.
Remember that we are WestOttawa, we are a community, we
are each other and I just wantto thank all three of you for
coming in, telling the truth andsharing your experience.

Speaker 6 (01:06:54):
Really appreciate it, thank you Thanks so much guys.