{"id":26381,"date":"2016-01-27T15:26:54","date_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=26381"},"modified":"2016-01-27T15:26:54","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T21:26:54","slug":"elyjah-williams-broken-foot-unbroken-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/elyjah-williams-broken-foot-unbroken-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Elyjah Williams: Broken foot, unbroken spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Julia Cardi<\/strong><\/p>\n

Elyjah Williams pushes himself up from his perch in a wheeled office chair on the court sideline and limps to the basketball net a few yards off, away from his teammates running drills on the opposite end of the floor. He starts shooting free throws and lay-ups. The boot on his right leg and crutches propped against the wall make it clear why he\u2019s not practicing with his team, but still he watches them intently, often barking out commands or hurling playful insults. Other times he observes silently with a wistful expression, a lone wolf cut off from his pack\u2019s hunt.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Evanston Wildkits forward fractured his foot in a game of pickup during the high school\u2019s holiday break. He will likely miss the rest of his junior season, and he\u2019s restless. Even sitting out, he doesn\u2019t sit still. Williams strains forward in his chair on the sideline, fervently bouncing an ever-present basketball between his legs and frequently, almost reflexively, bringing it up to spin on one finger.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the big men are making threes, where y\u2019all at?\u201d he hollers at his teammates during a drill.<\/p>\n

In a burst of overexcitement, he lets out a few whoops, then sinks against the back of his chair and snickers. \u201cI didn\u2019t know you could block somebody through somebody’s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI call him the new Derrick Rose,\u201d laughed former team manager Erica Gardner, referring to Williams\u2019 predisposition for injuries; he also missed time during the 2014-15 season with a cracked tailbone.<\/p>\n

Williams remembers thinking at first that the damage to his foot wasn\u2019t serious. \u201cI heard a crunch, but me being goofy, I tried to keep walking,\u201d he said about the moment of injury.<\/p>\n

Once he knew he\u2019d broken his foot, Williams\u2019 focus turned to apprehension about how long it would sideline him for – he expects to miss between four and eight more weeks following surgery on January 21.<\/p>\n

\"Elyjah<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Julia Cardi\/MEDILL\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\"Elyjah<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Julia Cardi\/MEDILL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n

Williams\u2019 outlook is at once rose-colored and pragmatic. \u201cIt\u2019s not the end of the world, I know I\u2019m going to be able to walk again,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I see my team having fun and winning\u2026that keeps my head up. I don\u2019t really feel isolated – I\u2019m still here every day; I\u2019m always with the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams frequently moves on a scooter around the court perimeter to watch practice from different angles, once heading to the front to give advice to forward\u00a0Tyler Battle. Head coach Mike Ellis gathers the players at the end of practice, and always their floor general, Williams stands with him and the other coaches in front of his teammates.<\/p>\n

“How vocal he is, the leadership qualities that he brings to the table – since the injury, I don\u2019t think any of that has changed,” explained assistant coach Rudy Meo.<\/p>\n

Meo also knows Williams remains stoic when he struggles mentally.<\/p>\n

\u201cElyjah is a tough kid, he probably won\u2019t show it a lot, but I know that outside of everybody, he\u2019s probably just killing himself as far as what he can do to get back on the court,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The Wildkits have not lost a game since returning from the holiday break without Williams, and the team stands at 17-2 going into their game at Niles West on January 29. But they still feel Williams’ absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, we\u2019re deep at the guard position, so we can move guards down to the front court,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cBut we don\u2019t have a lot of size, so losing Elyjah is going to take its toll on our rebounding and interior play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wildkits bear\u00a0the impact of Williams’ injury behind the numbers as well.\u00a0The players don\u2019t communicate with each other on the floor as much without him, and it hurts their defense. Williams said team members like guards Chris Hamil and Nojel Eastern have stepped up and talk more, but still the defense becomes a \u201c\u2018wait-and-see\u2019 type of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the Wildkits have adapted to playing without their floor general. Williams doesn\u2019t think his teammates dwell much on his absence during games, he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in the heat of the battle, there\u2019s no time for \u2018what-ifs.'”<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Junior forward Elyjah Williams watches the Wildkits’ practice from the sideline. (Julia Cardi\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Julia Cardi Elyjah Williams pushes himself up from his perch in a wheeled office chair on the court sideline and limps to the basketball net a few yards off, away from his teammates running drills on the opposite end of the floor. He starts shooting free throws and lay-ups. The boot on his right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":26478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,585],"tags":[597,1048],"class_list":["post-26381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-winter-2016","tag-basketball","tag-high-school-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nElyjah Williams: Broken foot, unbroken spirit - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/elyjah-williams-broken-foot-unbroken-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elyjah Williams: Broken foot, unbroken spirit - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Julia Cardi Elyjah Williams pushes himself up from his perch in a wheeled office chair on the court sideline and limps to the basketball net a few yards off, away from his teammates running drills on the opposite end of the floor. 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