Editor’s note: This is a regular feature profiling senior athletes at Bryant High School.
Caleb Strain
NAME: Caleb Strain
PARENTS: Lisa and Ken Strain
SIBLINGS: I have two sisters, Taylor Strain, who’s 21, and Crystal Cotner, who’s married and lives in Carlisle.
FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL: Human Anatomy
FAVORITE SPARE TIME ACTIVITY: Just hang out with friends, I guess.
FAVORITE FOOD: Pizza
FAVORITE MUSIC ARTIST OR GROUP: Country
FAVORITE MOVIE: Lone Survivor
FAVORITE TV SHOW: Sportscenter
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A KID? Basketball
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS AFTER HIGH SCHOOL? I’m going to Arkansas State in Jonesboro and I plan to major in physical therapy.
OTHER THAN YOUR PARENTS, WHO’S HAD THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON YOUR LIFE? HOW? Probably my uncle Terry Parrish, who’s a preacher and Coach A (Mike Abrahamson) also. My uncle helped me make my decision to become saved and follow the Lord when I was 6. And Coach A throughout my car accident and all that, he was a good father figure and helped me through it all.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BASKETBALL? I like playing as a team and watching my teammates succeed and just doing whatever I can to see what they can do, make everybody better.
POSITION: Forward
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE SEASON SO FAR? It’s been up and down. We started off good in conference then kind of fell off a little bit but we’re getting back to our old ways. I think we’ll finish out strong.
WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT TO THE SEASON SO FAR? After the J.A. Fair game, after we beat them and we were all dancing, I think that brought us together closer as a team. So that was a good thing for the rest of the year.
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE FOR THE TEAM TO BE SUCCESSFUL THE REST OF THE SEASON? Just hard work and the right mindset; put our minds to it and know that we can beat whoever steps out on the court with us.
TALK ABOUT YOUR GAME NOW; WHAT ARE YOU MOST CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITY TO DO? Shooting 3’s, definitely.
WHAT DO YOU WORK HARDEST TO IMPROVE ON IN PRACTICE? Just going game speed, trying to get into the rhythm that I’ll be doing during the game.
TALK ABOUT YOUR COMEBACK: It was difficult. I tore my LCL, my PCL and my ACL in my left knee. I shattered my right femur and damaged some nerves in my leg and my neck. It was a lot of hard work but I knew that I owed it to the team to get back and try to get out there with them. I owed it to Coach A also who came up to the hospital a lot to come see me. Just a lot of therapy and doing stuff on my own time trying to get back.
WHAT KEPT YOU GOING? It wasn’t easy at all. I wanted to prove people wrong just because I had people that were doubting me, saying, ‘You can’t be back before the season’ and ‘With all those injuries, you’re not going to be able to come back to normal.’ I’m not 100 percent normal but I proved most people wrong and came back and played.
WHEN YOU’RE THROUGH PLAYING BASKETBALL AT BRYANT HIGH SCHOOL, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’LL LOOK BACK AND REMEMBER MOST FONDLY ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE? Just how Coach A has pushed us to become better basketball players and better men. He’s taught us good life lessons and I’ll always remember to use those. And also it just made me a better friend, I guess, towards everybody. If you look at me and then all the other guys, you might think, ‘Well, he might separate himself from them’ or something but I just have embraced it and I love those guys like my brothers. I’ll miss playing with all of them and being best friends with all of them.
