Taliaferro Is Back on Balance Again : San Clemente Setter Returns to Action Without Undergoing Surgery

The mysterious pain in Brandon Taliaferro’s shoulder persisted, and it almost ended the 6-foot-5 junior’s season . . . needlessly.

But instead of undergoing season-ending surgery two weeks ago, Taliaferro is now terrorizing opponents on the court, pain-free.

Taliaferro, a setter from San Clemente High who earned Times all-county second-team honors last season, first felt the pain in his right shoulder last summer. It worsened as the school year began, finally sidelining Taliaferro after he played in a club volleyball tournament in mid-January.

“Six weeks ago, we didn’t know what we were dealing with,” said Taliaferro’s mother, Karen Metzger.

Although Taliaferro consulted some of the best sports medicine practitioners, he didn’t hear the answer he wanted until he visited Stephen Hill, a chiropractor based in Encinitas.

Some initial diagnoses recommended exploratory surgery, but Hill, who has worked with numerous professional beach volleyball players, helped Taliaferro return to action.

According to Hill, Taliaferro’s problem was not in his shoulder, but in his pelvis.

Because of a volleyball player’s repetitive motions of jumping and landing, Hill said injuries such as Taliaferro’s are not uncommon.

An imbalance in the pelvis caused a chain reaction, Hill said. The imbalance in his pelvis caused imbalances in the cervical vertebrae (neckbones), which in turn, Hill said, caused muscular imbalances and strain to the shoulder.

“Brandon just has to wear a sacroiliac belt to support his pelvis now,” Hill said. “We wanted to be proactive in our treatment, treating the ailment so that it gets well and stays well. Our society has been conditioned to just treating the isolated problem area--you know the attitude that if it’s not broken, no need to fix it.

“Brandon has a clean bill of health. He’s cleared to go out and kick some butt.”

Something he has been doing, and figures to continue doing.

Taliaferro, who has started since he was a freshman, figures to be one of the most highly recruited players in the country next season. But this season, he was more interested in playing with his high school teammates, including Corin Bemus and Gabe Gardner, who has signed with USC.

“Having a setter of his size and talent, you can’t put a value on it,” said San Clemente Coach Mike Hurlbut. “He’s turning heads around the nation.”

Said Taliaferro: “We have a great high school team. Every player who has done anything, has won a CIF title. People I look up to, like Adam Johnson and (Huntington Beach’s) Jeremy Bart, are all winners. It’s something that I want to look back on and say that I won a CIF title. That’s pretty special.”

Taliaferro admits he is only at 80%. The most noticeable differences are his sub-par conditioning and his left-handed serves.

“Sometimes his right arm just looks like it’s dangling there,” Hurlbut said. “But then he’ll go up and put a ball away right-handed.”

Playing with pain is nothing new to Taliaferro. Last season, he hurt himself during pregame warm-ups for a match at Woodbridge.

“Brandon cut his leg on a chair and it was just gushing blood,” Hurlbut said.

Taliaferro insisted he was fine and wanted to play. The San Clemente trainers attended to the wound and Taliaferro began the match, but game officials sent him off the court when blood began soaking through his sock.

“My dad took me to one of the local hospitals and it took about 30-40 stitches to close the wound,” Taliaferro said. “But I just wanted to get back to the match.

“I told the doctor to stitch me up quick because I had a match to get back to, and he understood.”

Taliaferro left the match in the first game, but returned with the Tritons ahead in Game 3. Hurlbut left him on the bench as the Tritons won in four games.

“He’s tenacious,” Hurlbut said. “He doesn’t want to miss practices or feel like he’s letting the team down, so he might push himself a little harder although he might be hurt.”

Said Metzger: “Brandon always tries to go at 250%.”

That extra gear has always been apparent to Taliaferro’s mom.

A standout swimmer at age 7, Taliaferro had some local coaches drooling.

“Even when he was young, he had long arms and big hands,” Metzger said. “I remember at this one swim meet at Villa Park High, Brandon was busy stuffing a hot dog into his mouth right when they called him for a race.

“So he just finished eating, hopped in the pool, and won the race. Afterward, a (Mission Viejo) Nadadores coach came up to me and said that Brandon had the potential to become an Olympian.”

That goal could be in sight.

Taliaferro has played with the national junior volleyball team and also plays a lot on the beach to improve his all-around skills. But he is taking one step at a time.

“I’d love to win a Southern Section title,” Taliaferro said. “And a gold medal at the Junior Olympics would top it off nicely. Then what ever happens in college is great. But at each level that I play, I want to be the best.”