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Staying healthy is reward enough for Lakes' Rohr

For the first time in his young life last summer, 17-year-old Kyle Rohr held down a job. A real one.

The Lakes senior worked at Great America.

"I had never worked a day in my life," said Rohr, the Eagles' sharp-shooting, 6-foot-1 point guard. "I mean, I had done chores around the house, but I had never had to go somewhere and be there eight hours a day.

"It was a good job. I learned people skills and gained some life experience that will probably come in handy someday.

"And I enjoyed the checks."

Rohr, who was stationed in the food court and dished out Cold Stone Creamery ice cream, among other treats, was able to put gas in his car, take his girlfriend out to eat, buy himself whatever he wanted. It was his first summer of being kind of a grown-up.

It was also his first summer without basketball. Not that he really had a choice in the matter with that.

The reason Rohr had never before held down a summer job was because he was always too busy with basketball.

Rohr played basketball year-round, and would spend summers with his elite Full Package AAU team that would compete in tournaments all over the country.

But Rohr blew out his left knee last January while going in for a layup against Vernon Hills. He tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the meniscus. He had surgery on February 10 and was told the rehab process would take a full eight months.

So for Rohr, one of the best guards in Lake County and currently Lakes' leading scorer (13 ppg), basketball was out. Completely out. Scooping ice cream suddenly was in.

"At the beginning, it was really frustrating, and depressing and there was a lot of sadness, because I was out for the rest of the season," Rohr said. "As an athlete, not being able to do anything was extremely tough."

Rohr couldn't even enjoy the basketball hoop in his driveway.

"When your house is the house where everyone comes to play basketball, it's hard to sit there and watch," Rohr said. "I have a couple of good friends, Ian Haflinger and Demetrius Michels (teammates at Lakes), who come pretty much every day to shoot. Sometimes, I'll have six or seven guys over. They'd come to shoot around on game days, even in the cold.

"And there I was on my crutches. After about two months, I was able to stand in one spot and shoot (flat-footed) jumpers. But that was about it."

Eventually, Rohr was able to walk on the treadmill, and then jog, and he lifted weights, light at first, then heavier. Then he could shoot a little on the move. It was a conservative, methodical process that required plenty of patience and mental toughness.

"It was a very long, slow process," Rohr said.

Finally, in October, Rohr started playing again in preseason practice.

"I was so happy just to be able to run, so excited," Rohr said. "I was so glad to be back,"

Um, not so fast.

Just as Rohr was starting to get his timing back, the injury bug bit again. And again.

Rohr dove for a loose ball in a game against Fenton last month and smacked his elbow so hard on the floor that it swelled to disgusting proportions.

Then earlier this week in practice, while working hard in a defensive drill, Rohr collided with a teammate and strained his groin, to the point where he heard something pop.

"Talk about bad luck for a kid," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. "He works all the way back from an ACL and then the elbow and the groin.

"It's like, man, poor kid. But Kyle is so good. Anytime anything happens, he's in the training room doing whatever he can so he won't miss any time. I think he values his time even more so now because of all the time he missed last year. He's got an even greater appreciation for it."

Rohr, who went back to his familiar routine of icing, icing and more icing, was worried that his groin injury would force him to miss Wednesday's Northern Lake County Conference game at Wauconda. But he suited up anyway and played through the pain.

"When I was a little kid, I was kind of a wuss," Rohr said. "If I got hurt, I'd cry and take myself out of games. At some point, I figured out, that's not the kid I want to be.

"I want to be the tough kid, and play through it, for my team and my teammates. It was hard with the knee because I had to sit out, but with other things, I'm always going to try my hardest to get right back in the game.

"I just have a lot of passion for basketball."

Rohr says that passion is what some college scouts like most about him. Despite missing half of his junior season and the all-important summer going into senior year, Rohr is still being recruited. He is getting serious interest from St. Ambrose, St. Norbert and Wisconsin-Lacrosse.

Snyder is not surprised.

"He brings a lot," Snyder said of Rohr. "He can handle the ball, he can score and he competes. He's a hard-working kid who competes from the opening tip. He's such a great example for our young kids."

Rohr's role model growing up was his older brother, Michael, a 6-foot-8 forward who starred at Lake Park High School before graduating in 2004. Michael went on to play college basketball at St. Mary's in Minnesota.

"Michael set the bar and that's what has pushed me. All my life, I've wanted to be even better than him," Rohr said. "He played in college and started all four years, and that's what I want to do, too.

"I didn't know what was going to happen (with recruiting) because of my knee, but I just made a tape anyway and sent it out and I still got some interest. I think the college coaches liked how versatile I am. I can shoot, I can drive and I can play defense. And in the video, I showed a lot of emotion and passion for the game. They liked that, too."

Rohr is planning to pick up some hours at Great America this summer, just to get a little bit of spending money. But he's hoping he won't be available for too many shifts.

He wants those scouts to give him a reason again to play basketball all summer.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

Follow Patricia on Twitter: @babcockmcgraw

  Lakes' Kyle Rohr drives up the court Wednesday night at Wauconda. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
  Lakes' Kyle Rohr, left, talks with coach Chris Snyder on Wednesday night at Wauconda. Steve Lundy/slundy@dailyherald.com
A badly swollen elbow for Lakes senior Kyle Rohr only begins to tell the story of the health challenges he's faced recently. Submitted photo
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