David Beckham took out a $78 million policy for his legs in 2006. Three years later, Cristiano Ronaldo got his lower body insured for $153 million. Kate Barnosky might have been best served exploring similar options for her right knee.
Then again, everything is in peak form these days for one of the women's basketball team's best weapons. She's healthy for the first time in over a year, and, barring any setbacks, will be on the floor when the Jumbos open their season on Nov. 19, a notion that mere months ago seemed a far−reaching goal.
In June 2010, Barnosky was playing in a summer league game back home in New York when she went up for a layup just before the half ended and landed on a buckled knee. She played the second half, which was probably a stupid decision, she concedes, and wound up on the operating table four days later. But after three surgeries and one meniscus removal, Barnosky is ready to return to the game that she's missed out on for so long.
"Freshman and sophomore year, I never missed a practice or a game. I didn't have any type of injury, no big sicknesses," Barnosky said. "I'm going into my senior year. I just wanted to do this. I'm beyond excited. I've never been so happy to be back on a basketball court."
It's been quite the roller coaster ride for Barnosky. From late summer, doctors told her she'd never play again. They wanted to focus on helping her walking abilities hold up for 10 years, let alone worry about sprinting and jumping this winter. At some point, somewhere along the line, something finally turned around.
Along the way, Barnosky encountered her fair share of obstacles. On the second day of practice last season, Barnosky, fresh off a summer of rehab, re−tore her meniscus. Another eight weeks of rehab followed. She was eventually cleared and played in four games, but experienced the worst pain she's ever felt and decided to go in for another surgery, this time extracting the pesky meniscus from her knee for good.
"As late as the summer here, we weren't sure things were going to turn for the better, and they have, knock on wood," head coach Carla Berube said. "She's put in the time. It's hard to tell a player not to go work on their game, and she's one that we have to because she has to give her knee a rest, but she's always ready to get on the court and become a better player."
A self−proclaimed gym rat, Barnosky had to keep herself busy once playing faded from the realm of realistic possibilities. Over the summer she went to Peru to visit her brother — stationed there in the Peace Corps — a decent mental distraction, anything to take her mind off playing basketball. Last spring, Barnosky, a child development major and education minor, had an internship working with Boston schools.
Then, in September, she began testing the knee on her own, beginning with short five−minute sessions on an elliptical. By October, actually suiting up became practical. And now, less than two weeks before the season−opener, Barnosky's ready to go.
Well, save that time last month when she broke her finger, which ended up being a blessing because it forced her to rest her knee just a bit more.
"It was tough. I felt like at first I might have been saying, ‘Oh I wish I could be playing,' but once I realized I wasn't playing, it was just a huge learning process," she said. "It was an uncomfortable position for me. I've never been on the sidelines for a long time, but I think I learned a ton and learned to be a leader from the sidelines."
As a junior tri−captain last season, Barnosky watched as the Jumbos finished 18−6 but were bounced by Williams in overtime in the NESCAC quarterfinals. Traditionally the lead−by−example type, she instead developed more vocal skills, serving as an additional coach on the bench for Berube. All the while, Barnosky kept honing her fundamentals with some creative ball−handling and shooting drills. Anything to keep her motivated for the future.
And as far as Berube is concerned, Barnosky, who will serve as a tri−captain again this season, hasn't missed a beat.
"She sat out the entire year last year, and it was very difficult for her to do that and watch when she knew she could have really helped us out," Berube said. "But you never knew, she never let anybody know just how hard it was, because she's just so positive, such a great leader and teammate. You can see just how happy she is to be back on the floor, helping her teammates and being a part of it all again."
Gone from the roster now are Vanessa Miller (LA '11), a two−time NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, and Colleen Hart (E '11), the program's all−time leading scorer. In their place is a young roster, on which only three players have ever played with Barnosky.
This made for an interesting dynamic once preseason began.
"It was really weird being out there the first day of practice. I felt like such a freshman," said Barnosky, who redshirted last year, and after this season will have one more year of athletic eligibility remaining. "I was telling coach that my stomach was hurting all day, which is silly because I've done this so many times before, but I felt so nervous, so anxious."
The wait is finally over. A dynamic threat on the perimeter or in the low post, Barnosky started all 27 games as a sophomore, averaging 8.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, and came off the bench in most games her first year. This season, without Hart and Miller, the team's first− and fourth−leading scorers, respectively, Barnosky's return has been highly anticipated, at least internally.
"You can persevere and have a solemn attitude about it, but she always makes it about the whole team, and never feels sorry for herself or feels like anybody should be pitying her," Berube said. "Colleen and Van were the face of Tufts women's basketball for so long, and that could feel like, ‘Oh my gosh what are we going to do now,' but Kate has just stepped into that."
Stepped into it with, for the first time in a while, two healthy knees.
