Return to competition the best remedy for FA’s Smith
By Ernie Clark
BDN Staff
DOVER-FOXCROFT — A loose ball in the lane early during Saturday’s boys basketball game between Foxcroft Academy and Caribou produced the predictable scramble of players trying to gain possession as if the ball was a winning lottery ticket snatched from someone’s hand by a sudden gust of wind.
Michael C. York
SHOOTS THE BALL — Foxcroft Academy boys basketball player Hunter Smith shoots the ball in the second half of the game against Hermon on Wednesday in Hermon.
And with a twist of his body and a dive to the court, Hunter Smith instinctively joined the fray.
That should come as no surprise, given that the 6-foot-3-inch senior forward is one of the region’s most driven athletes, not to mention the reigning Big East Conference player of the year.
It also was just one more piece of evidence that Smith not only is progressing in his physical comeback from a dislocated left hip suffered Aug. 28 during Foxcroft’s preseason football game at Orono, but that any lingering concerns related to the injury have been relieved by rigorous therapy followed by a return to competition.
“It’s not in the back of my head at all, that part is gone,” said Smith. “I think I just notice it more when I sprint up the court that I can’t sprint as fast as I used to or I can’t jump as high as I used to on that leg yet.
“I’ve got my endurance back but not the power, and that’s going to come.”
Smith is averaging nearly 16 points per game for the Ponies, who are off to an 0-3 start this season — the losses coming by an an average of five points per contest.
“With the time I put into physical therapy, I kind of knew what to expect from my hip,” he said after contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds in the 49-48 loss to Caribou. “The first time I went to the ground or the first time I put my knee down or went for a loose ball I was hesitating, but then I realized it was hesitating that was going to get me hurt again.
“I just learned from the people that I’ve talked to about having serious injuries. … You’ve just got to be cool with it and understand what’s happening and trust that the physical therapy is going to heal you.”
Smith was attempting to make a tackle during that final preseason football scrimmage when his knee got caught in the turf while the rest of his body kept surging forward — resulting in an injury considered rare in high school football circles.
He was taken to a Bangor hospital where his left hip was re-inserted into its socket approximately an hour after it became dislocated. No breaks were discovered nor did any necrosis develop due to temporary blood loss to the bone.
An all-conference football player being recruited at the Division I college level as a wide receiver, Smith missed his senior season on the gridiron as he kept weight off the recovering hip for several weeks before beginning physical therapy to restore the injured area to normal.
Smith eventually was cleared for no-contact drills with the Foxcroft basketball team, then got full clearance to play just before the start of the regular season in early December.
“I’d say I’m about a nine (on a 1-10 scale),” said Smith of his current condition. “After a game I still ice my hip and kind of baby it, but in the game I try to go as hard as I can and it hasn’t affected me too much. The muscles are still building back up so I’m still getting used to running up and down the floor.
“My endurance is getting there. It’s not 100 percent yet but I’m definitely getting a lot stronger being able to run up and down the floor with it.”
As Smith gears up for the rest of the basketball season, he also is preparing to play in the Blue-Grey North-South All-American Bowl, a high school all-star game scheduled for Jan. 9, 2016, at Raymond James Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He was among 200 seniors from around the country in the Class of 2016 selected from a pool of 6,570 invited players who competed in a Blue-Grey regional or super combine earlier this year.
The honorees — nearly all Division I recruits — are divided into four teams of 50 players each representing the North, South, East and West regions.
Smith will play for the North squad that will face off against the South beginning at 8 p.m. on Jan. 9, with the game to be televised on Fox Sports and live-streamed on the Impact Football Network.
Smith said playing basketball has helped him regain the endurance he needs for that opportunity, which will include two days of workouts in advance of the game.
He’s also focusing on strength and flexibility training as well as a variety of more football-specific skills, including running pass routes outside on the snowless fields with his father Dean, younger brother Hyatt and Ryan Stroud, a former quarterback at Foxcroft Academy, the University of Maine and Husson University.
“I’ve been working on sinking my hips into my routes and making sure that’s 100 percent before I leave so I can peak when I get down there,” said Smith, also the reigning Class C outdoor track and field state champion in both the 110 hurdles and high jump while finishing second in the long jump and third in the 300 hurdles.
“I’ve got to get quicker, faster, and sharper with all my routes and I’ve got be able to transition from left to right or forward to back real quickly so that’s what I’m working on, the agility mixed in with the speed.”
For Smith, the Blue-Grey all-star game not only will provide a chance to display his football skills in front of a national audience that will include hundreds of college coaches, but the opportunity derive a weekend of solace from a final year of high school football otherwise lost.
“It was definitely a heartbreaker not being able to play my football season as a senior,” he said. “But I think it taught me a lot about the game and to appreciate what you have. You never know when it might be your last moment on the floor or the field so you need to make sure to go all out while you can go all out.
“Someday I’ll either retire or won’t be able to do it anymore so I want to make the most of it while I can.”