Injury Leads Okura to Her Future Career

When doctors talk about performing major reconstructive knee surgery, most athletes begin to think their sports careers could be over.

But for Kristen Okura, a Saddleback College basketball player, such surgery turned into on-the-job training for her future career.

Okura, a 5-foot-10 forward, had once considered becoming a lawyer. But because of the work she put into coming back from her knee injury, she is now interested in physical therapy.

She hurt her right knee in a scramble for a loose ball in a game at Riverside last January. Okura, from Mission Viejo High School, was expected back within a couple of weeks. But after the swelling went down, it was clear the extent of the damage called for an operation. She would not play again that season.

With Okura, who averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds, in the lineup, Saddleback was 10-8. Without her, the Gauchos went 3-8.

After surgery, Okura hobbled into her second-semester classes on crutches. Among her classes for the spring semester was one in sports medicine.

“There I was the first day, the perfect model for when we studied the knee,” she said.

Okura also spent a lot of time that semester at a rehabilitation center near campus, where she now has a part-time job.

“That’s what I’m going to aim for now,” Okura said of a career in athletic injuries. “There are a lot of different things I can work on.”

Right now, her favorite project is herself.

Okura spends more than an hour getting her legs (her left knee also bothers her) and two fingers taped before practices and games.

She has learned to tape herself in case the home team doesn’t have a trainer present when Saddleback is on the road.

“They (the Saddleback trainers) say that I’m using up all their tape,” she said.

Before her injury, Okura led Saddleback in scoring and rebounding last season. This season she is again near the top and Saddleback is 8-3. Okura is averaging nine points and seven rebounds despite jammed fingers and soreness in both knees.

Though she has bounced back from surgery sooner than expected, she isn’t pleased with her play this season.

“I’ve been frustrated this season at times,” Okura said. “I still don’t think my rhythm is back, but I’m getting better. The injury taught me patience, which is not my middle name. It wasn’t in my vocabulary.”

The Golden West women’s basketball team is off to another good start this season. The defending state champion Rustlers are 12-1.

Golden West won its sixth in a row Saturday--a 70-58 victory over Cuesta in the championship game of the Cuesta tournament. Golden West started sluggishly in the title game and trailed, 20-16, with about five minutes left in the first half. The Rustlers then scored 16 consecutive points and lead at halftime, 34-22.

It was also the sixth consecutive time Golden West has won this tournament. Bits Sirchia, a sophomore guard from Golden West, was selected the tournament’s most valuable player. This season, Golden West also has won its tournament and finished third in the College of the Sequoias tournament.

However, the Rustlers should find stiffer competition once the Orange Empire Conference season begins Jan. 3. Fullerton (10-2), Saddleback (8-3) and Orange Coast (9-5) are playing well, and Rancho Santiago (5-9) and Cypress (1-11) have struggled.

Cypress (9-5) is the only men’s basketball team in a tournament this week. The Chargers play Snow College of Utah on Thursday in the first round of the Dixie tournament in St. George, Utah.

The tournament concludes Saturday.

Rancho Santiago (13-1) won the annual Pasadena tournament for the second consecutive year Friday. The Dons, who are the top-ranked team in the state, defeated Ventura, 78-66, in the title game.