Varsity is the free Official Digital Magazine of Wisconsin Athletics, covering Badgers football, basketball, hockey and more each week.
Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/40783
TITLE CHRIS BORLAND telling; the "Before" being right after his shoulder surgeries. "I was shocked when I saw the difference after 15 weeks,'' he said. "Coming off surgery, I was as small as I had been since my sophomore and junior year of high school. "Now, I'm between 240 and 245 and I'm in what I think is the best shape of my life." That should bode well for the 2011 season. "He sees the space, he doesn't see the obsta- cles," Jeff Borland said. "Or he sees a way around the obstacles or through the obstacles." Borland, who helped pull off a soccer event for underprivileged youth in Madison this summer. "It's a great sport for young kids," Chris said, citing the con- ditioning and foot-eye coordi- nation. "Soccer is like having 10 quarterbacks on the field; it involves a lot of vision and un- derstanding." Jeff Borland expanded on his son's thoughts. "It's a three-dimensional chess game," he said. "I coached Chris in basketball; he was a point guard. In soccer, I couldn't figure out why he would make a particular pass so I put myself in his shoes. "I realized at a very young age he was making one pass to set up the second and third pass. I just think he sees things differ- ently than others. "If you were to make the soc- cer analogy: he sees the space, he doesn't see the obstacles. Or he sees a way around the obsta- cles or through the obstacles." There's something else that separates Chris from many oth- ers, Jeff Borland said. Preparation; the willingness to do whatever it takes for how- ever long it takes. "There would be other kids in the weight room but they would be long gone for the last hour that Chris was in there ev- ery day," Jeff said. "I think that has carried over to his rehab (at Wisconsin)." The rehab has gone so well that Chris Borland has reshaped his body. The before and after upper body digital photos were "I think as a team we can do some pretty special things," he said. "There's no reason why we can't win every game, but there's so much work to be done for that to be even a possibility. "Personally, I expect to play my role, be dependable and make plays." Team Borland would endorse that type of commitment. Espe- cially since the whole clan will gather in the Madison area for Thanksgiving in advance of the regular-season finale against Penn State. "One of our sons, John, found a rental that sleeps 20," said Jeff Borland, an investment ad- visor in Kettering. "It will be the first time everybody has been together in a year or three." "First time since 2007," Chris Borland said. "With two broth- ers overseas and a sister in Tex- as, it's been tough. Everybody has been all over the place. But this is going to be amazing." He sounded absolutely moti- vated for it, too.