This week senior ETSU men’s basketball player Mike Smith was cleared by his doctor to begin training for next season. On Wednesday, March 24, Smith posted a status on Facebook saying that he had been up since 8 a.m. practicing and “stirring up something nice for next year’s season.”During the first practice of the 2009-10 season, Smith, 22, suffered a stress fracture in his leg which caused him to be red-shirted for the season, which was supposed to have been his senior season.

Sitting out for the season was hard for Smith. “I felt that, being a captain, I needed to be out there with my teammates, trying to lead them. Sometimes I just wanted to jump out there and try to get in the game.”

However difficult sitting out might have been for him, Smith was able to learn a great deal from sitting on the bench. He had the opportunity to perform somewhat of a coaching role this season through trying to keep his teammates motivated throughout the season. He encouraged the other players to “play as a team and play hard every night.”

Though Smith is proud of the team for making it to the NCAA tournament, he said it was hard for him to watch from the bench because he wanted to be able to get on the court and play with the team.

However, what Smith realized was that “what was best for me and our team was that I sit out this year and be back next year.”

Smith is looking forward to playing again next season. As much as he would have liked to play this year, he now understands that “a lot of good things came out of it. Everybody is coming back next year so hopefully everybody on the team can stay healthy and we can have a great season next year and make a run in our conference tournament as well as the NCAA tournament.

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