!V dream come true
Mashback September
"?> I
Cross-town rival Carver
vjuares off against the Titans in
Hie season opener for both
t ams. Young is a key weapon
; >r West as a kick returner and
< >t back With the ganie still in
ooubt in the fourth quarter,
oung, who had scored a two
points PAT only minutes earlier,
takes the ensuing kickoff after a
Jackets score. He speeds up the
;;ut of Carver's kick coverage,
'i sing the wedge that his mates
Kid set up for him. Suddenly, he
pots an opening to the right
' ide, makes a quick cut, then
Jails to the turf in agony, without
Mng tackled.
"I knew something wasn't
right," Young recalled. "The
knee jusr snapped. But I didn't
*Vmk it was that bad. I really felt
r>at I would be able to come
hack later in the season."
Young's hopes for a return
to the grid wars were nixed after
a medical diagnosis revealed
i>?at he had torn his anterior cru
ciate ligament (ACL). Soon
afterwards, he underwent ortho
topic surgery to repair the dam
age.
The gymnast could have
esumed playing football. The
doctors said that the knee would
!:eal, but wouldn't be as strong
>s before, which meanTlTot
trong enough for gymnastics.
After talking it over with
jny Had [James Blackburn], 1
te't it was best to forget about
iootball." Young said. "Had I
^one.back to playing, it would
save been too much of a chance
10 take because the knee may
Mave been damaged even more
which would have kept me out
of gymnastics for good."
Knee injuries are notorious
Jor ending athletic careers. But
vC. I. injuries have been particu
1 a rl y troublesome for even the
world's top-flight athletes. In
ecent years, NBA headliners
Danny Manning and Ron Harper
?LA Clippers) plus Mark Price
; Cleveland Cavaliers) have had
om ACLs and were forced to
'Tiiss at least a year of competi
hon in order to give the injury
proper time to mend.
When you consider the
stress and demands that gymnas
tics places on the knee, especial
ly with an acrobatic performer
'ke Young, you quickly under
stand how critical such an injury
could be. And even though
^oung opted to leave the pigskin
alone, it still appeared that he
would have to forget about gym
nastics - for 4Q2 anyway.
It never occured to Chris
that conventional wisdom about
ACLs could prevent him from
egaining his form in time get
another shot at the nationals.
After all, too much was at stake
He couldn't let this injury spoil
his chances to get a scholarship
at a school that is renowned for
developing Olympic-caliber
gymnasts.
It was only days after the
surgery that Young returned to
the gym. Nah, he wasn't doing
the usual routines. No way. The
main aim was to keep him in
touch with the equipment while
maintaining his strength.
Even if \ had wanted to, I
Photo by T-Lee
Young is abundantly athletic. The 5-8 gymnast Is a 20-foot long
Jumper who has personal bests of 45-2 in the triple jump and
6-4 in the high jump
couldn't do anything else other
than work on strength," Young
said. "But looking back on it,
the injury was a blessing for me.
It forced me to work on things
that I wouldn't have worked on
otherwise. When I'm healthy, I
do a lot of tumbling. But since
that was out, I did more with the
apparatus - the rings, pommel
horse and parallel bars, which
were my worst events. Because
of that, I got much better."
Recuperating from major
knee surgery tends to be labori
ous, painful and tedious. For
Young, however, it was a bit dif
ferent. Fact is, it was unbeliev
able/In less than five months,
Young was back in action and
able to compete at a reasonably
high level, in spite of wearing a
cumbersome knee brace.
A lot questions about
Young's knee were answered in
February, during his first compe
tition since the operation. Sure,
he still experienced mild pain on
awkward landings. But even
though he wasn't fully recov
ered, his physical skills and
competitive nature enabled him
to maintain his reputation as one
of the nation's elites. "I remem
ber that first meet and how con
cerned my Dad and coach [Bob
Kohut] were," he said. "But I
never really thought about it All
I wanted to do was have some
fun. And that's what I did in my
floor routine. I just made it up as
I went along."
Chris Young does not fit the
usual profile of a gymnast with
world-class potential. Guys and
gals who spend as many as six
or seven hours a day in the gym
are the norm. But what's intrigu
ing is that Young has excelled in
this demanding sport while per
forming very credibly as a track
athlete. This spring, Young was
valuable to the Titans in the high
jump, triple jump, long jump,
and as the anchor for the 4 x 100
relay.
This raajr sound strange; to
sonxe, but dompeting in other
sports has its benefits. One of 1
those pluses is that competing in
other sports helps eliminate the
possibility of burn out, which
isn't that unusual for gymnasts,
swimmers, tennis players, or
distance runners at the junior
level.
Young makes gymnastics
work for him when he's into
track. For instance, there are a
lot of similarities between the
long jump and the vault. Both
events have runways and both
events involve the athlete hitting
a board just prior to takeoff.
He even uses the same dis
tance on his approach (81 feet)
to the board regardless of
whether he's vaulting or long
jumping. Some of the body
mechanics for doing back flips
are transferable to the high
jump, according to Young. In
each case, the aim is to create
sufficient 'lift to either clear the
bar, or get enough height on
flips to execute certain maneu
vers before landing to complete
a routine.
Chris possesses wondrous
athletic gifts, but perhaps his
greatest asset is an intense desire
to meet any challenge. Competi
tion has a way of pushing Young
to a higher plane. Such was the
case at this year's Region VIII
competition, which is a qualify
ing meet for the national cham
pionships.
The sequence of events at
the regionals provided ample
proof that Young is adept at han
dling the physical and mental
stresses that go with competing
against the best of his peers.
For starters, rival gymnast
Andrew Manson issued a
friendly warning to Young that
he would prevail in the overall
competition. Manson had good
reason to be confident. In previ
ous regional meets, Young had
never beat him in the overall
standings. On top of that, Young
suffered a terrible spill on his
dismount in the vault. The pain
in his knee was so bad that it
could've caused Young to stop
competing.
In spite of those setbacks,
Young was determined that he
would not be deterred. The end
result is that Young won three
gold medals (overall competi
tion, vault, pommel horse), three
silvers (floor exercise, high bar,
parallel bars) and one bronze
(still rings).
"I guess you can say that I
really hate losing,*' said Young.
"When somebody tells me that
they know they're going to beat
me, I really get pumped up. I
knew rhad never beat Manson
in the overall, so I finished with
111 points. I had the best meet
of my life. As for my fall, all
the coaches wondered if I would
finish the meet. I really didn't ,
know myself. But after talking it
over with my Dad, I thought it
was best for me to keep on
going."
A lot of good things have
happened in a short period of
time for Chris Young. His future
has unlimited possibilities. But
the most important point, is that
he is acutely aware that he can
be his best friend or his worst
*
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