"...Until you actually go through an injury or
sit out a season and go through the surgery,
you really don't understand what it feels like,"
Wurtz said. "I was blessed to have teammates
and coaches and family to support me."
26
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VARSITY December 5, 2013
Wurtz, a fifth-year senior from Brandon. So they
tried to lift each other's spirits. "If he's having a crabby day, you try to make him smile in a way, whatever
you can do to help him out," she said.
Late last October, Gasser sustained a season-ending knee injuring during practice. During his first
two years, he started 66 of 70 games. Late last December, Wurtz announced that she would be having
back surgery. A three-year starter, she had played in
the first five games of the 2012-13 season before being sidelined.
"We were obviously both very frustrated," Gasser
said. "Coming into the year, we were both integral
parts of our teams; we were both in leadership roles.
So it was such a big shock to both of us to know that
we couldn't contribute and there was nothing we
could do about it.
"We tried to keep each other positive and we definitely became a little closer through the process.
You tend to get along with people who are in the
same circumstances that you are, people who really
GREG ANDERSON
J
osh Gasser and Taylor Wurtz have always
shared the same thing: a passion for basketball.
Last season, they shared something else: the
Kohl Center training room. After the game they so
dearly loved was taken away from them because of
injuries, they found themselves on the same path to
recovery.
Prior to then, they had known each other in passing since they hung around the same circles; Gasser
with the Wisconsin men's team and Wurtz with the
women's team. But during their rehab from surgery
― Gasser for a torn ACL and Wurtz for a herniated
disc ― they broke new ground in their friendship.
"Last year we were in the training room a lot so I
definitely got to know him a little bit better," Wurtz
said. "It's comforting in the fact that you have someone who's going through the same thing you are. He
can definitely relate to you, and you can relate to
him and his struggles."
Some days might be more taxing than others for
Gasser, a redshirt junior from Port Washington; or
