Bankus upbeat about upcoming surgery

It was a tough thing to watch as one of Olympic High School’s top all-around athletes, football player-baseball player-ski racer Nick Bankus was lost for the season a the hands of the Gig Harbor Tides football team a week ago.

But don’t waste time feeling sorry for Bankus. After all, he’s not.

“I see it as I’m not going to be able to do anything about it,” the senior Trojan said. “So just move on. I’m staying positive for rehab.”

Bankus, who had just returned from a ski competition in Chile, was playing in just his second game with Oly. His first carry of that game (a 56-0 road loss) gave the Trojans 9-yards and first down. But Bankus also took a shot to the right knee, tearing his anterior cruciate and medial collateral liagments.

But after the initial physical pain and disappointment wore off, Bankus realized he has too much going for him to keep down on himself. With a strong network of support from family, friends, teammates and coaches, Bankus hopes to being the road to recovery soon.

Bankus was originally scheduled for surgery Wednesday, but an infection in his knee has changed that date to sometime this coming week. After surgery, Bankus said the best case scenario is six months of rehab.

And while Bankus said the injury will likely end his hopes of getting a baseball scholarship, he hopes that now he will be able to find a program specific to helping him improve.

“I think this is kind of opening up more opportunities,” Bankus said. “Now I’m just looking for somewhere to go.”

While Bankus said he will definitely return to recreational skiing, his future in competitive skiing is a little more hazy.

“I’ll definitely go back to skiing, but I don’t know if I can get back to racing,” he said.

As for baseball this spring, Bankus said he’ll keep fully involved, and hopes he’ll be ready to resume light activities by then.

“I’m still going to be showing up at practice,” Bankus said. “I’ll probably be able to play catch by then.”

One of his biggest supporters has been Oly baseball coach Nate Andrews, who Bankus said suffered similar ligament injuries in his elbow.

“I was really surprised,” Bankus said. “Coach Andrews was really positive about having a good rehab and stuff. He knows a lot about major injuries.”

An exceptional student with an interest in physics and engineering, Bankus has started finding new things to fill his time, joining a new technical engineering club at Olympic, JETS.

“Since I’m not playing football, I went to the first JETS meeting,” he said. “Just extra stuff to go have fun with."

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