Nate Reid waited a long time to play varsity basketball for Carmel. He’s not wasting a single minute now.
As a junior on Carmel’s senior-dominated Class 3A sectional finalist team in 2013-14, the 6-2 Reid rarely played.
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“I never saw him play,” first-year Carmel coach Zack Ryan said. “I was going off what others said.”
While trying out for a Kessel Heat AAU team in March of 2014, Reid felt pain in his right hip. He was diagnosed with a torn labrum. Surgery followed in April, and Reid missed all of the spring AAU season and summer basketball.
“I had not been through anything like this before,” Reid said. “It was my first significant injury.”
For two weeks, he needed crutches. Then post-surgical physical therapy sessions at Accelerated Rehabilitation in Northbrook began. Exercises focused on strengthening his legs and core muscles. By the end of July and into August, Reid was performing stationary ball-handing drills, then progressing to short jump shots.
He said the hardest part of his rehabilitation was remaining patient.
“Your hip is connected to your core,” said Reid, who gained 20 pounds after the surgery due to inactivity. “It will affect you in basketball. If I’d run [too hard] and twist, I could aggravate my hip. I’d go to open gym [in September] and participate in one scrimmage, then take a day or two of rest. I’d want to take it too fast. I had to take it carefully.”
When the high school season began in early November, Reid had a good first week. But then he had another injury, with stress reactions in his shin bones. That sidelined him for another month.
Although he couldn’t contribute on the court, Reid remained a Carmel basketball player. He went to each practice. While his body healed, his mind never shut down.
“Everything happens for a reason and it’s up to you to react to that situation in a good and positive way,” Reid said. “I used every option to be with [my teammates].”
Reid’s first game was a victory over Grant on Dec. 20. Finally, in the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs, Reid was healthy enough to play significant minutes. On Dec. 26, Reid scored 19 points in Carmel’s 71-66 overtime win over Prairie Ridge. He scored 13 in an 81-51 rout of Bradley Tech of Milwaukee on Jan. 2.
Everything Ryan had seen from Reid in November practices was finally spilling over into games.
“He’s our first guy off the bench,” Ryan said. “He provides instant offense. It was a matter of him getting back in shape.”
Now at his optimal playing weight of 185 pounds, Reid takes pressure off the Corsairs’ top-scoring guards, juniors CJ Duff and Shareif Belser-Bailey. On Jan. 31, Carmel won 65-64 in overtime at home against Class 4A power Fremd. At halftime, the score was 27-27, and Duff hadn’t scored a point. Reid scored 10 points in the second quarter, helping to keep Carmel in the game.
After so much time as a non-participant, Reid is now irreplaceable. And he’s seizing every moment.
“It’s been an awesome experience,” he said. “I wouldn’t change anything about it.”
Jon Kerr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.