I am so happy to be alive in the time that I am in. One of my favorite loves has always been sports and especially basketball. It is a really fun sport that has been imparted into my life by growing up in the midwest. I know that the love of sports has also instilled a strong feeling and sense of overcoming adversity. That is what sports is all about and it has helped me with my ostomy. As a basketball coach, I get to see a lot of good things and bad things that go on in the sport. Basketball is quite the contact sport anymore. In the olden days, you truly had to play defense with your feet. You couldn’t arm bar or “check” anyone without it being a foul. So, there was very little contact in the sport.
Sports are really changing. If you are a professional then rules simply don't apply if you are popular enough. It is now basically a joke to be in the NBA if you are popular. But nowadays, you’re allowed to get away with quite a bit when it comes to offense and defense. The only way you used to get injured in basketball was if you rolled an ankle or happened to tear a ligament due to a noncontact injury. Rarely did physical contact ever cause an injury.
Nowadays, however, things have changed. So, when one of my players had to have an ostomy care procedure, it was recommended that he did not play basketball any longer due to the contact involved in the sport. Initially, he did try to play, but his bag would not stay put and in place like it was supposed to. Most of us were really frustrated with this. Not the least of it all was my player and I thought that living weakly was wrong and so did he. That was until he came across a plethora of ostomy supplies. One of which was a belt that kept his bag tight and in place. With his newfound supplies, he gave basketball another chance. It was a great thing that he did because now with the right gear he is kicking butt.
But it is not for everyone and sometimes health matters more than fun. Unfortunately, due to the contact he was facing, he could no longer participate in the sport. His ostomy ended up changing what and how he played different sports. Until he discovered cross country, that is. In cross country, there is very little contact. The only contact that is really made is from your heals clipping your calves or your arms rubbing against your sides.
Aside from that, contact is very minimal. With his belt to keep his bag in place and no contact to be had in the sport of cross country, my former player found his new love. He went on to be an all-state cross country runner in the state of Illinois.
The work to compete at the highest level ended up being too much to bear for my former player, so he ended up giving up the sport after his senior year of high school. Now, however, he is working to bring awareness to the supplies that are available to those that have had ostomy procedures and need ostomy supplies. He has helped a multitude of people that have dealt with the exact same thing he had to go through while he was in high school.
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