H.S. VOLLEYBALL: South Side’s Sain back to full strength for senior year

A torn ACL is an injury that is becoming more and more prevalent in high school athletics.

The pain is excruciating and the rehab is tough, but high school athletes are learning how to deal with those factors in hopes of the returning to the court.

South Side senior Kiya Sain suffered a torn ACL as a sophomore, which made her junior year a time of hard work to get back healthy.

As a two-sport athlete for the Lady Hawks, Sain had to work extra hard to be ready to return to the volleyball court and basketball court.

“The pain was especially bad in volleyball when we had four or five games in a week,” Sain said. “Coach [Tommy] Dean was good about giving me a break when I needed one, and I was careful and tried to not overdo it.”

The injury occurred in January of 2014, and surgery happened shortly thereafter.

“The surgery lasted five hours, and they had me starting therapy five days after the surgery,” Sain said. “I didn’t think I was ready, but we started going to therapy four days a week. I knew I had to do that to get back playing.”

Therapy wasn’t just the four days a week that Sain went to it. She also had to do some on her own.

“I had to get in the gym and do lunges and put weights on my ankles and do lifts,” Sain said. “My momma made sure I stayed on top of my work also.”

The volleyball season started seven months after the surgery.

“It hurt more at the start of the season,” Sain said. “As we got close to district, I was fully recovered, and I felt fine.”

Precautions were taken for volleyball as Sain was not put on the backrow rotation.

“It gave me time to rest, and it stopped me from falling to my knees a lot,” Sain said. “When I did fall, I tried to fall on my good knee.”

But Sain was feeling better by basketball season, and now she is ready for a strong senior season with a chance to reach the state tournament in two sports.

“In volleyball, we want to win district,” she said. “I know it will be tough, but we want to win it and return to state. We also want to win two games at state.

“In basketball, we want to do the same. We want to win the district and put ourselves in a good spot to try and reach the state tournament.”

Michael Odom, 425-9754