DOMINICK CORSI
Special to The Leader
Photograph By Gabe Rogers
Juggling athletics and academics can be tough for anybody. Schedules are conflicting, assignments pile up fast — the list of difficulties goes on forever. Adding a serious injury to that list could be catastrophic for some students.
But Jason Winston is not one of those students.
On Feb. 21, Winston collided with one of his teammates on the Fredonia Blackhorse Rugby team, leaving him with injuries that hospitalized him at Brooks Memorial overnight.
Winston needed stitches, and is recovering, in high spirits.
Speaking on the collision, Winston said, “Of course I got a concussion, but at first I started seeing double vision. We thought I had to get surgery for it.”
Winston caught a knee to the eye when diving for the ball and immediately went down.
Winston did not end up needing surgery, and has returned to the classroom with just under two weeks of rest and recovery time recommended by his doctors.
Winston is a video production major in his junior year at Fredonia. He played high school football and track back home in Westchester, N.Y.
“I came here for track originally, but it never just ended up happening,” he said. “And my girlfriend was starting to play rugby. She was just trying it out and recommended it to me. So I went to one of the practices, and the rest is history.”
While joining the Fredonia Blackhorse Rugby team might not have been on Winston’s radar when coming to Fredonia, he definitely made the right choice in doing so.
“I was a receiver and running back for my high school football team, so that made the transition a lot easier in playing rugby,” Winston said.
President of Blackhorse Rugby, Max Hamilton, was able to navigate the situation with great poise and leadership.
“Yeah [Hamilton has] really been helping me out through this whole process and telling me how everything’s working out,” Winston said. “He’s not only been a good president, but a very good friend, too.”
That type of camaraderie is a theme for the Blackhorse Rugby team, as they have been supporting Winston throughout his recovery and have kept him involved with the team as he was voted in as the teams event coordinator .
Winston wants to leave the door open for a potential return to the rugby pitch in the future, however, he’s considering his health first before committing to anything.
“I don’t know whether I want to go into contact sports again, yet,” Winston said. “I still want to be around the rugby scene though, and I would love to play; it’s killing me that I can’t for the rest of the season. I was coming off a really good season ,and I love my guys so it’s tough. But it’s just doctor’s orders.”
Hamilton has applauded Winston’s play over the course of the season.
“He was an everyday starter before the injury and was always known as a playmaker,” Hamilton said.
Rugby itself is known as one of the more aggressive contact sports, which has led to controversy surrounding the lack of involvement from NCAA trainers during Winston’s medical emergency.
The common response and defense from the campus athletics department has been that NCAA trainers are prohibited from treating club athletes because they are not playing official varsity, DIII sports. Therefore, when the injury happened, Hamilton led the way in taking care of Winston himself while his teammates, Ian Dague and Isiah Goodrich, desperately called for aid and left to find help immediately. They went to one of the athletic trainers’ offices on site for help.
“When Ian went to find somebody he specifically went to the athletic trainers, but nobody [came to help me]. And then during one of my meetings [later on] with my doctors, they told me that [the reason] the athletic trainers didn’t show up [to help me] was because we’re not an NCAA sport,” Winston said. “It doesn’t make sense, especially with a sport like rugby; I think it’s one the most violent sports on campus. So I feel like you need to have somebody watching on-site.”
While the whole situation leaves plenty of questions about the accessibility of athletic trainers for club athletes in the event of a medical emergency, that’s a subject for another time.
Winston has been appreciative of the support he’s received from friends, family and his professors. He has been catching up on the schoolwork he might have missed while out.
When talking about what he’s taken from this experience, Winston said, “Time management is my biggest thing right now and also my health is big for me as well. I’m just taking steps in order to take care of my body, my eye and my health overall.”
By making a quick recovery, getting back to his schoolwork and having a positive impact on Blackhorse Rugby, Winston has had an eventful past month-and-a-half.
On and off the pitch, Winston has a warrior’s heart and is an inspiration to all athletes – club (and varsity) athletes alike.
Stay tuned for more specific details on Winston’s injury and the athletic department’s reasoning/defenses for not allowing an athletic trainer to help in our next upcoming issue.