Many students at BSM have suffered injuries throughout their high school career but now are back to competing at a high level.

Senior captain Brady Yakesh is a four-year varsity hockey player. He has embarked on a very successful high school hockey career and will continue playing junior hockey next year in Chippewa, Wisconsin. Throughout his career he has had his fair share of injuries, including in the High School Elite League. “I stepped up on a player and I felt my  pop. The pain was lingering and it felt like a knife stabbing,” Yakesh said. 

Following the game, he went home in pain, and over the course of the next few days the pain did not subside. After a couple of days, he was diagnosed with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. This was devastating news as he would forgo the first two months of the BSM hockey season. After the diagnosis, he had a successful surgery on the injury. The next steps involved physical therapy and recovery. Exercises in physical therapy included shoulder rotation and shoulder strength. These movements would cause agonizing pain.

Ryan Sever, a University of St Thomas football commit, has grown as a football player from freshman to senior year. Although the season did not go as planned, Ryan advanced his skills enough to play at the next level. After the season had ended, Sever finished with 116 total tackles, leading the team and putting UST on notice. All the hard work he put in on defense led to an injury that would prove to be an obstacle during his dominant season. 

A couple weeks into the season, the team still had yet to win. The Monday following the first loss of the season, his left pointer finger cracked, creating an immense amount of pain. He sought treatment as he did not know what his injury was, and sadness set in as doctors told him he had a broken knuckle in his left pointer finger. “I was devastated but it helped me adapt to challenges and it made me do normal things differently,” Sever said. 

Being a middle linebacker who led the team in tackles, Ryan Sever wouldn’t let this injury keep him on the sidelines. He was told to put a cast around his left hand for eight weeks that went about halfway up his forearm. For football games, he would have to wrap it with a soft tape to protect opposing players while still being able to play. This cast is known as a club and easy to spot from a distance. Sever continued to muscle through the pain and finished out his senior season with 116 tackles.

Football cornerback and star St. Louis Park Flyers hockey player Jake Runman suffered a posterior labrum tear in the fall season. The injury occurred in Runman’s left shoulder. Runman contemplated continuing the football season after consulting with his doctors about the best possible option for him and his future. “My doctor said I could play but there is a chance to injure it again so I took a break to think about my options and future,” Runman said. 

Runman returned to the BSM football team with restricted movement in his left shoulder soon after the injury. Being a senior, Runman did not want to miss out on his final football season under the bright lights with his brothers. “The brotherhood was too strong and fun to not come back to battle with my teammates and brothers,” Runman said.

University of Minnesota soccer commit Maddie Shannon has dealt with a lot of adversity throughout her high school soccer career. After her sophomore season concluded, she joined her club soccer team. On December 1st, 2018 Shannon suffered a devastating injury. “I was dribbling down the field, took a touch out to the right, outside the box and I looked down at the goalie and shot the ball. I jumped with my right foot and I landed when I came down off the jump, I landed on my right leg and my knee went in and my ACL popped,” Shannon said. 

Following the injury she had a successful surgery and began intense physical therapy. This involved seeing physical therapists 2 or 3 times a week, “The painful, intense PT lasted for about 6-9 months. Movements included straightening and bending legs to different degrees in hopes of regaining leg strength,” Shannon said.

During Shannon’s senior season, the squad was looking to make a deep run into the postseason when their star striker went down in the first ten minutes of a match against Chanhassen. “I got the ball and I was dribbling past a few players. Then I moved to the right inside the box and I was cutting in and I passed it with my right but my left knee went in again. Everything in my knee popped,” Shannon said.

These injuries have caused obstacles for all these students in their high school seasons but all have persevered and are going to take their talents to the next level going forward.