{"id":16764,"date":"2011-06-03T06:36:58","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T13:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=16764"},"modified":"2011-06-03T06:37:28","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T13:37:28","slug":"the-return-of-kwame-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=16764","title":{"rendered":"The Return of Kwame Do"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

San Marino's Kwame Do on the fateful night against La Salle (Photo courtesy of the Titan Shield)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Josh Lowden<\/p>\n

(San Marino) \u2013 Imagine being a star multi-sport athlete. Picture being the person the whole team, better yet, the whole school looks to when a big play is needed. Try simulating making one of the most exciting plays you can make for your team.<\/p>\n

Now imagine getting injured while making that play. Try to picture that feeling of having to watch from the sideline, as week after week, your team loses.<\/p>\n

If you experienced anger, depression, disappointment as well as helplessness among many other feelings, you can successfully empathize what Kwame Do (pronounced ‘dough’<\/em>)went through last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to watch. I practiced all spring and all summer for these nights,\u201d said Do. \u201cThe first game I was like in tears (because) I couldn\u2019t go out and be out there with my team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do, the starting running back and safety, was injured while playing La Salle High in week two of the football season. While returning an interception he was grabbed by his left leg causing an awkward landing on his right.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid came out of nowhere. I tried to make a move, but it was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

He immediately knew something wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard that pop and then it hurt a lot,\u201d said Do. \u201cThen all of a sudden it went away. The trainers when I said it\u2019s okay, they like had a reaction like \u2018you are in trouble,\u2019 so I knew something was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

After multiple tests, including an MRI, it was revealed he had tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament as well as part of his Meniscus, a season-ending injury that requires arthroscopic surgery in order to properly heal.<\/p>\n

Do was set to have a big year. In just a game and less than three quarters, he had already amassed 413 yards, averaging over 12 yards a carry.<\/p>\n

After losing Do, and having the turmoil within the program with Mike Mooney’s departure, the Titans lost seven consecutive games before beating Blair in the season finale to finish 3-7, second to last in the Rio Hondo League.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of injuries besides me,\u201d said Do. \u201cWe probably had like eight starters out. I was just the beginning. We put in all this hard work to watch it go right down the drain.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was one game in particular that pained him to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo watch them on Homecoming against South Pasadena, our rivals, was just awful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only did the injury effect his football season, it forced him to also miss both the basketball and baseball seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the summer I played three sports. Every day I was playing every single sport. Then I only got to play two weeks of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now seven months post-surgery, Do\u2019s knee is almost all healed up. After rehabilitating his knee he says he is ready to go back full speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy knee feels a lot better,\u201d said Do. \u201cA month ago, I would still feel it. Now, I run with a trainer and it feels like it has recovered a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m almost back to where I was.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is waiting for a special brace to come in before he returns to practice, where he will go full speed. For now, he is focusing on learning the new system that new head coach Mike Hobbie has installed.<\/p>\n

And as for this year, Do only has one goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWin. That\u2019s all my personal goals are. Win and get a defensive strip…That\u2019s all I want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Josh Lowden (San Marino) \u2013 Imagine being a star multi-sport athlete. Picture being the person the whole team, better yet, the whole school looks to when a big play is needed. Try simulating making one of the most exciting plays you can make for your team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[238,831,4504,612,293],"class_list":["post-16764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-sports","tag-josh-lowden","tag-kwame-do","tag-mike-hobbie","tag-mike-mooney","tag-san-marino"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16764"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16767,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16764\/revisions\/16767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}