Trent Williams’ path to recovery

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Trent Williams shooting a free-throw during his first game back from his injury against Medina on Feb 8. 2019. Photo taken by Doug Wolfe .

A.J. Perfetto, Contributing Writer

On Jan. 4, 2019, the Solon Men’s Basketball team played a conference game against the opposing Medina Bees at Medina High School.  The Comets had a 76-65 lead with less than a minute left in the game. Trent Williams, a senior on the Solon High School Varsity Basketball team, went up for a layup to increase the team’s lead but that did not go as planned. Williams fell down straight on his wrist with the full impact of his weight.

Williams went to Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights the morning of Jan. 5 the day after the Medina game, and that morning he was told he had a fractured wrist.

“I thought that I was going to be out for the season,” Williams said. ”I felt like I was going to leave my team hanging.”

William’s who’s a huge part of the Comet’s offence, defence and overall team performance, was facing an injury that even had his other teammates worried for him.

Williams is averaging just over 16.0 points per game, and almost 3 steals per game.  Williams also helps on the rebounding side of the game with around 5.3 defensive and 3.4 offensive rebounds per game.

Mike Bekelja has known Williams for a long time. They are both four-year Varsity members and three-year starters for the SHS Boys Varsity team.

“When he fell down at first I thought he was going to get up and brush it off,” said Senior Guard Mike Bekelja. “But when he was holding his wrist, I knew it was something serious.”

Bekelja was by Williams side throughout the whole process of his recovery, even if he couldn’t be there physically, he tried to be there in other ways.

“I would text him every day and try to take his mind off of the injury and just offer as much support as I could,” Bekelja said.

Coach DeCesare, SHS head basketball coach, has known  and coached Williams for four years. DeCesare was nervous when he found out that Williams had a fracture in his wrist.

“[Trent] is one of our best players and it will always hurt to have one of your best players get hurt that deep into the season,” DeCesare said.

DeCesare knows how much Trent WIlliams means to the team and he will be taking precautions when it comes to playing Williams and when he needs to rest him.

Dustin Lyons, the Assistant Coach for the Boys Basketball team, knows how much Williams’ presence affects the team both positively and negatively.

“Trent is such a dynamic player,” Lyons said.  “He brings energy, our talent up and our teamwork to a new level. When I saw Trent fall right on his wrist I thought for sure he was out for a long time.”

Trent Williams was nervous when he was told what happened at first, but then some good news came his way.

“There was a huge smile on my face when they told me I was going to be able to play in a matter of weeks,” Williams said.

With the doctors consent, Williams was back for the remaining five games of the regular season (Medina, Shaker, Brunswick, St. Edward and Strongsville).

Williams helped the Comets to a 16-9 record for his final season as a Solon Comet.  The Comets season came to an end Weds. Mar. 9th against the Mentor Cardinals in the Euclid District Semi-Finals with a final score of 60-58.

Williams also became the 4th player in Solon Boys Basketball history to obtain over 1,000 points which he did in their second to last game against the Willoughby South Rebels.

Williams will continue playing basketball at Tiffin University where he will play the guard position for the next four years.