Every year you hear about inspiring and incredible stories of athletes going above and beyond in order to try and help their team succeed.
In the 2010 NHL playoffs Duncan Keith blocked a slap-shot with his face – knocking out seven of his teeth – only for him to return minutes later to finish the game and help his Chicago Blackhawks defeat the San Jose Sharks to win the Western Conference title.
In 1997 Michael Jordan – nearly bed-ridden due to a severe flu – scored 38 points and hauled down seven rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a Game Five win over the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals.
Now Nick Payne’s name can be added to the list, as the Regional Raider senior guard played nearly every minute of his team’s SHSAA 5A Small Cities round one 82-61 loss to the the North Battleford Vikings, as well as his team’s 85-74 consolation round win over the Prince Albert – Carlton Crusaders with a torn ACL that kept him off the court for most of the season. “I knew I had to get back on the court some time this season,” offered Payne. “I couldn’t just sit there and watch the entire season without playing.”
Payne said that initially he didn’t think it was that serious of an injury. “I hurt my knee in football, and then reinjured it in Estevan against Moosomin, but I thought it was just a sprain,” said Payne, noting that he didn’t know to what extent he was injured until just before the Raiders’ home tournament earlier this year. “We didn’t really discover that I tore my ACL until I went to a sports medicine doctor.”
The doctor then advised the grade 12 athlete to cease from playing all sports until he had surgery and fully recovered – something that would take six to eight months minimum from the day of the surgery – however Payne knew he had to find a way to get back on the court before the end of the season.
So the third year Senior Raider decided to risk injuring his knee more and ordered a customized brace for his right knee. “I went to go get the brace and it took a week for it to be ordered in,” said Payne. “It was awkward at first to be wearing it, but I had to get used to the brace that I bought and it took a while to do that.
“Eventually I got comfortable with it and was able to play in time for Small Cities.”
Unfortunately Payne’s presence and ability on the court wasn’t enough as the Raiders were unable to pick up a win in their key game against North Battleford, however his effort didn’t go unnoticed. “He played great this weekend, although it’s certainly been a very hard year for him,” said his coach and father Jason Payne. “Nick put in an awful lot of work this summer and he wanted to play post-secondary, so it’s tough any time you have a kid that puts that kind of work in and then is not able to harvest the fruits of their labour so to speak.
“But he managed to come out and play well this weekend and it was nice to see him have a good game to finish things. He showed a lot of heart playing with an injury like that and I’m very proud of him.”
Now with basketball all finished Nick says he’ll get the surgery – when, however, continues to be a mystery. “I’m going to go to school next year and I can’t get in for the surgery until the fall, so I think we’ll just extend it until spring time and then just get it done then.
“I’ve waited this long, so I can wait a little while longer.”
