Back in Action

Staying healthy, team chemistry … air conditioning … likely keys to success for Comet volleyball team

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — The knee can have a mind of its own.

For example, the rest of the body wants to go one way but the knee stubbornly stays in place … or goes in the opposite direction just to be even more difficult.

Katie Foster had one of those knees that stayed in place while she was warming up late last volleyball season. As a result, Foster ended up staying in place — meaning on the sidelines for the rest of Charles City’s calendar sports year.

“When it happened, I didn’t think it was going to be that bad,” Foster said of when she dislocated her left knee while preparing for what was hoped to be a deep postseason run for the Comets.

“When I sat down on the bench was when I saw that my leg wasn’t right,” Foster said. “But it still didn’t hurt that much.

“When they took me away on the stretcher, that’s when it started to hurt.”

Remarkably, they were able to get Foster’s knee back in place in time for the regional final against Waverly-Shell Rock. But Foster — then a junior who had played varsity since she was a freshman — was far from 100 percent as the Go-Hawks advanced to the state finals by a 3-1 match score.

“We thought when we set it back in place, it would be alright and would heal by itself without any surgery,” Foster said. “But then I dislocated it again playing club volleyball. That’s when we knew I needed surgery.”

Now that really hurt. Not just for Foster, but for anyone else who had a vested interest in Comet sports success.

As a sophomore the year before, Foster suddenly emerged as one of top sprinters in the state and placed second in the 100-meter dash at the 2015 Iowa Girls Track and Field Championships, where she also placed 11th in the 200 dash.

Later that year, Foster led the Comets softball team in hits and stole 46 bases out of 46 attempts in 32 games — that’s more than 230 stolen bases when projected out to a 162-game season.

But with a date with the surgeon’s knife in February followed by a doctor’s clearance five months later in July, Foster’s track and softball junior seasons were nixed.

“It was really hard to sit and watch my teammates and not be out there with them,” Foster said. “I’m not completely back to where I was before the injury, but I’m glad to be playing again.

“I feel I’ve got to make up for some lost time.”

The Comets volleyball team began practice this week.

“So far our team chemistry has been good,” senior Kelsi Crooks said. “I think we’re going to be better than last year.”

The Comets were 30-11 in 2015. Whether this year’s team can improve from that remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure — the home court is going to be an upgrade.

“I can’t wait to start practicing and playing in there,” Crooks said of the Comets’ new gym, which is located within the new middle school attached to the high school.

When asked why she is so excited about practicing and playing in the new gym, Crooks offered two words.

“Air conditioning.”