Ethan Bartholomew was just trying to get some air on Oct. 9, 2019.

A high-school sophomore at the time, Bartholomew had just finished playing basketball at an open gym. Instead of just walking under, he leapt toward a basket, trying to see how high he could jump.

On the way up, Bartholomew got where he wanted, grabbing the rim. The descent, however, wasn’t as smooth.

“I kind of fell weird,” Bartholomew said. “I knew it was going to be bad.”

Upon falling onto the hardwood, he injured multiple areas of his body, suffering a tibial tuberosity avulsion fracture — pulling part of the bone off of his tibia — and breaking his wrist. As a result, Bartholomew underwent surgery to screw the piece back into his leg. It sidelined him from basketball — and any other sport — for three months.

For Bartholomew, who has played basketball since kindergarten, the mental toll was just as taxing as the physical injury.

“He was so disappointed that he’d miss basketball season,” said Dean Bartholomew, Ethan’s father. “The main thing was just telling him to keep his chin up.”

Regaining strength

Though it was a frightening situation for Ethan, both physically and mentally, he had an advantage: Both of his parents are medical professionals. Dean is a family physician at 307Health in Powell, and Ethan’s mother, Tonya, is an occupational therapist.

In what was a tough recovery, this eased the otherwise arduous process.

“It helped a lot,” Ethan said. “He helped me with what I needed to do, and she gave me a lot of good advice and help through the rehab.”

Though Dean’s knowledge as a physician was valuable during Ethan’s recovery, the doctor admitted Tonya was likely more valuable to their son’s healing.

“Since my wife’s a therapist, I think she was more helpful,” Dean said. “We gave him a little time to heal and got him through an early rehab.”

Ethan lost much of the muscle in his quadriceps as a result of being sidelined from all physical activity, so a typical day of rehab consisted of squats, lunges and other leg workouts.

“He would sit there almost daily and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, look at my quadriceps,’” Dean said. “It was just a matter of building that muscle again.”

Staying busy

While he never stepped on the court in the 2019-20 Powell High School basketball season, Ethan found a new way to contribute: as the team’s manager.

The sophomore found new ways to assist his peers while traveling to games with the team. Though he would’ve rather been competing on the hardwood, this filled a desire to participate in some fashion in the sport he loves.

“It was a lot of fun,” Ethan said. “I got to travel and be around my friends, so it helped a lot to be around.”

Toward the end of basketball season, Bartholomew was far enough along in his recovery path where he could participate in certain drills at practice. He was also running every day, preparing for the spring track season, though it was ultimately axed due to COVID-19.

In the months leading up to the 2020-21 school year, Bartholomew attended all of the basketball team’s summer workouts, open gyms and camps. Less than a year after the gruesome injury, this motivation impressed PHS head coach Mike Heny.

“You have to work pretty hard just to get back to do normal things,” Heny said. “He always works hard and asks what he needs to do better.”

By the time the school year rolled around, Bartholomew had the chance to compete in another one of his passions: tennis. Now a junior, Bartholomew played the season as Powell’s No. 1 singles player.

With basketball season approaching, Bartholomew saw it as an opportunity to work on a certain skill set that the sports share.

“Tennis is a lot of good footwork and a lot of good side-to-side movement that’s good for basketball,” he said. “I think that was the biggest thing, and it has helped me.”

Return to the hardwood

After tennis, all of Bartholomew’s focus went to basketball. The junior continued practicing ahead of the season to give himself a chance of making the team.

Initially, Heny’s plan was for Bartholomew to serve as a practice-squad player and suit up on an as-needed basis. But when a couple of players decided to leave the program, the coach made a decision: Bartholomew would be a full-time JV player.

“He’s a great kid, has a great attitude, and he earned it,” Heny said. “Everyday life is tough when you sustain something like that, so having the determination to get back on the basketball court is pretty remarkable. It takes a special kid to overcome and deal with those challenges.”

Bartholomew has appeared in all four of the Panthers’ JV games thus far, hitting a 3-pointer in Powell’s recent win over Rocky Mountain Saturday.

According to Dean, Ethan “was hoping to be further along” in terms of his basketball skills by now. But even so, Ethan is just thankful for the opportunity to compete in the sport that was his first love.

“It’s really nice,” he said. “Not having to give up the sport was a really, really big thing. It’s good to be back with the team.”

Bartholomew isn’t worried about how many points he scores or how many assists he logs. The junior just wants to help his team in any way possible while enjoying the game he grew up playing.

“I want to play well in games and keep working hard in practice,” Bartholomew said. “Just give it my best effort and help in any way I can.”