Hailey Blair’s story is one of those that you hate to tell, but it’s one about the hazards of playing sports.
“Hailey was one of my first freshmen when I came to Panama,” said head coach Victor Pierce. “She paid her dues playing off the bench her freshman year and working her way into the starting lineup as a sophomore, and got better as a junior, averaging about 12 points a game and was averaging about 15 a game this year.”
The key word there being “was”.
In the Porum Tournament in early December, Hailey went down with a knee injury. Early indications were that it might just be a bad sprain and it might be okay after some rest during the holiday break. But when she returned to practice, she found that it hurt to make any kind of cutting move and so an MRI was ordered and then the bad news – a torn ACL.
Hailey’s senior season ended abruptly.
“When my dad told me, I thought he was joking. It was a complete shock,” said Hailey. “I went to the doctor and was probably crying the whole next day. I didn’t tell any of the girls until after our game with McCurtain.”
But Pierce says that Hailey still has a valuable role on the team.
“Hailey was really good at driving into the lane and then learned some moves that helped her kind of post-up players when she got inside, and she perfected those moves as she got older and now she helps some of the younger players learn those moves,” Pierce said.
But that’s not much comfort to the senior, who is also involved in student council and the National Honor Society.
“Some of the younger players come to me looking for tips on how to do those moves inside and that’s nice to be able to be a leader in that regard, but it’s really frustrating not playing and it sucks having to watch now and just cheer from the bench,” she said with the disappointment ringing in her voice.
Even though Hailey didn’t get to finish her years on the court as a Lady Razorback, she hopes that people will remember that she made her mark.
“I really wanted to help change the culture of the program here between my freshman and senior years, and I hope I was able to do that,” she said.
