PLAYING THROUGH THE PAIN
FRANKLIN TWP. — In a sport that demands as much running as basketball, shin splits are less than ideal. It would be easy to forgive an athlete if they took the time to heal.
Just don’t look at Colby Bernhard to be one of those players. Even if she’s tasked with running on hardwood floors instead of softer soccer fields.
Suffering from shin splints in both legs that carried over from Southern Columbia’s girls soccer state championship, Bernhard has managed the pain as one of the Tigers’ five starters.
“From what I understand, she didn’t know. It started happening at the end of the soccer season and she didn’t know that,” Southern Columbia coach Kami Traugh said. “Colby is the type of athlete that isn’t going to complain about anything — she’s going to play through it. There were some games this year that I started her, but when I felt like I didn’t need her out there anymore, I didn’t play her. She understood that because the only real way to heal those is through resting.”
Traugh admires Bernhard’s grit and determination, knowing that if she takes the senior off the court, then it likely means the Tigers are in a good spot for the remainder of the contest. She also doesn’t want to aggravate the injuries any further because it hurts more to consistently rotate her rather than have her continuously run.
“She wouldn’t tell me if she was too hurt to play,” Traugh said. “I would have to ask her and by the way she responds, I could tell she was having issues. She never came up to me and said ‘I need to come out’ which I give her 100% credit for that. She’s a competitor and she wanted to play through it.”
For someone that hasn’t taken herself out after long games or weeks, that isn’t about to change now. That’s especially true given she’s had a week between the two biggest games of the year — maybe her career.
“Usually in bigger games, the adrenaline kicks in and takes over and makes it a little more bearable,” Bernhard said. “... I just keep saying ‘one more game’ and knowing there is an end in sight. It’s my last year of basketball and I didn’t want to take any time off.”
And though her numbers may not be as great as some of her teammates, opposing teams have learned to not sleep on Bernhard. Traugh points to a stretch late in the regular season when Bernhard played a major role on both sides of the court in Ava Novak’s (12.2 points per game) absence, calling Bernhard Southern’s “sneaky player.”
“Teams really don’t know about her because she’s not a high scorer, but she’s good at finding the cuts when people aren’t paying attention and finding people with passes,” Traugh said. “At the same time, when she is hurt, she can’t cut as good on defense. But again, she never complains — I can just tell at times that she is in pain.”
To make up for not missing any games, Bernhard is often not around for the beginning of practice because she’s busy getting treatment with the trainer — rehabilitation exercises, stimulation and heat, and, if time allows, massages.
“It’s definitely a little hectic,” Bernhard said. “I go through my treatment to help it as much as I can before going [often late] into practice and getting into the flow of things.”
And though that pain may hold someone else off the court, the Tigers know they wouldn’t be in the position to play Nashannock on Friday in Hershey without Bernhard.
“She does everything you ask of her and she just wants to win,” Traugh said. “Even with two bad legs, I can’t say enough good about her.”
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