by Yanichka Ariunbold, staff reporter
The initial shock, the prolonged pain, and the chunky cast you have to wear for months all make breaking a bone a decisively unpleasant experience—one that many go through only a few times, or less, in their lifetime. Freshman James Rude, however, has broken a bone a whopping eleven times.
“I’ve broken both my legs twice, my right arm three times, my left arm once, my right ankle, the toe next to the big toe on my right foot, and my left wrist, ” Rude said.
Rude believes most of his injuries were a result of his carelessness, especially with playing sports such as baseball and soccer, activities he was involved in earlier in life.
“I was clumsy, and I didn’t learn from my mistakes,” Rude said. “I would fall off the top of the playground, and then I’d try to catch myself and break my arm. I’ve broken my legs by biking, my wrist playing baseball, and my foot from soccer.”
Describing one such instance, Rude explains how he broke his right toe, which, to this day, has not healed.
“I was on a swing over a river, and I slipped and landed on the roots of a tree growing out of the water,” Rude said. “We were camping, so I didn’t really have anything to help [my toe] heal when it broke.”
Since most of his broken bones happened during the school year, Rude struggled to deal with the “uncomfortable” recovery period following each of his injuries.
“It took 3 months in a cast for each bone to heal,” Rude said. “I was either in crutches or a wheelchair with my broken legs, if they had one.”
Unable to practice his other sports any longer, Rude turned to swimming, a low-impact sport, to stay active.
“I started swimming because I couldn’t do anything else with a broken foot,” Rude said. “I started swim instead of soccer, which is what I was in before I broke my foot, and I just kept on doing it.”
Over the years, Rude has improved tremendously in the sport, currently an active member of both the high school team as well as the rigorously competitive local swim club, Ags.
“When I began [swimming] in 6th grade, I was really bad; I didn’t really know how to swim at all,” Rude said. “But in seventh grade, I started trying and going to practices, and then I got a lot better over the past two years.”
Although intimidating in number, his broken bones have not been recent incidents—in fact, his last broken bone was over two summers ago. Rude credits this lapse to his entry into swimming, which has proved to be both a safe and enjoyable choice of sport.
“I have a bunch of friends [in swimming], more than I did in soccer or baseball,” Rude said. “And you don’t really get hurt as much. Obviously, I haven’t broken a bone swimming.”
