TUESDAY, June 27, 2017
www.kamloopsthisweek.com
A25
Title tilt
JESSICA PERRY AND THE RAKE CITY RED SOX SQUARED OFF AGAINST THE SILVERBACKS IN THE 11-AND-UNDER KAMLOOPS MINOR BASEBALL ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONSHIP GAME ON MCARTHUR ISLAND. THE GAME STORY INCLUDED A FANTASTIC FINISH. READ ABOUT IT ON PAGE A27.
ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW
Achilles heal
NABATA RECOVERS FROM SERIOUS INJURY, WINS NATIONAL BRONZE Scott Nabata was named an alternate for the Team Canada squad heading to the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal.
ADAM WILLIAMS
STAFF REPORTER
adam@kamloopsthisweek.com
S
cott Nabata felt a floorboard snap beneath him as he launched into his dismount during a training session at the Kamloops Gymnastics and Trampoline Centre in January. At least he thought it was a floorboard. “I was tumbling on the floor and when I took off for my dismount in my floor routine, I thought I broke one of the floor boards because it felt like a piece of wood snapping,” Nabata told KTW. Turns out the shifting beneath him wasn’t a piece of wood, but his Achilles
KTW FILE PHOTO
tendon rupturing. “I didn’t really think about it at the time because I was taking off for a skill when I ruptured it. I did the move and it wasn’t until I landed that I felt really, really intense pain in my leg. Everything seized up and I
knew it wasn’t the floor, it was definitely me. “That was a big blow.” Nabata had entered the 2017 gymnastics season with lofty goals — he wanted to be named to Canada’s team for the 2017 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal in October. He had hoped to be competing in the International University Sports Federation (FISU) Summer Games in Taipei. But, with just a month until his first competition when he blew out his Achilles, his entire 2017 season appeared lost. He would go under the knife to
SPORTS
kamloopsthisweek.com | 778-471-7536
repair the rupture the following day, the first step in a recovery period that has been known to take more than six months. He would be in an air cast for three months and weeks of rehab would follow. But Nabata and his coach, Hisayoshi Takahashi, decided to focus on the positive. His injury was serious, but it didn’t impact his upper body — there was plenty he could still do. Three weeks after surgery, he was back on the training floor of the KGTC. And when the 2017 Canadian Championships in Artistic Gymnastics rolled around in May, he decided there was no reason he couldn’t compete in one of his specialties, the upper-
body-heavy pommel horse. He put together a tremendous performance, finishing third and winning a bronze medal, despite being just four months post-op. Team Canada took notice. In the days that followed, he was named an alternate for Canada for October’s world championships — Achilles injury and all. “It’s pretty unreal,” Nabata said. “When I first injured myself, I figured this wouldn’t have been a possible opportunity. I was thinking about competitions next year even, I wasn’t really even thinking about this season, having any possibilities of going to any international competitions.”
BEST BUY SEASON PASSES UNTIL JUNE 30! Alpine and Combo Season Passes at the best prices of the year!
Check online for new season passholder perks. SHOP ONLINE 24/7
SunPeaksResort.com/Passes 250.578.5474
The 21-year-old will head to Calgary in July for a training camp to determine the final roster for the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Montreal. The camp will include two mock competitions, during which Nabata will have to show Canada the merits of taking an athlete who is currently only able to compete in pommel horse. But, given the obstacles he has already overcome this season, it almost seems a relatively easy task. “Being named in that spot, there’s 10 guys and I think we can take up to six people,” he said. “Even being on that list, it’s a crazy experience.”