Sidelined by injury, athlete leads academically
On Friday nights in the fall, high school football is the center of the universe for small Texas towns.
Bulverde is no different.
It’s a tradition for fans of all ages to pack the bleachers to watch the Bracken Christian School Warriors play 6-man football in a field off Old Boerne Road. Rows of trucks, SUVs and cars blanket the perimeter of the field where bright lights slice through the darkness and the crowd’s raucous cheers fill the air.
On this well-worn gridiron, on this cool fall evening in 2019, starting running back Joshua Schroeder doesn’t hear the noise, he doesn’t see the crowd just 15 yards away. He’s focused on one thing: listening for the quarterback to yell “snap!”
It was the third to last game of the 2019 season.
The 17-year-old tucked the ball close to his chest and took off, following the path opened by his lead blocker. Then on a kick return, a defender hit Schroeder and knocked him out of bounds into a bench. He felt a sharp pain in his back, but kept playing.
Schroeder said the area was very swollen but X-rays during a doctor’s visit after the game didn’t show any damage. His doctor prescribed rest and an ice bath every day. He continued playing through the end of the season.
The injury started hurting again as he played baseball and then when he ran track. The pain intensified in May, preventing him from summer football practice. But he was ready for the first game of the season this year and the teen who wears number 22 scored four touchdowns, playing through the pain.
His parents weren’t happy about him playing with the unidentified nagging injury. But it was his senior year and he was determined to help his team.
An MRI finally revealed the problem: his vertebrae had two stress fractures. One is now chronic, the teen said, and will never fully heal.
He was out for the season and his high school football career was over. If he had kept playing it could have resulted in potentially risky surgery, but by stopping he avoided that threat.
“I didn’t know it was a problem,” Schroeder said recently, sitting in the campus courtyard. “The X-rays didn’t show the injury.”
Though he’s set aside his football pads for good, he’s gearing up for one more night under the bright lights at the Hill Country school.
Throughout his athletic activities, he’s maintained a 4.0 GPA and is on track to be the school’s valedictorian. He said he’s following the footsteps of his mother who was valedictorian of her class at Smithson Valley High School.
“He’s really gifted academically,” said Verlyn Maldonado, coordinator of Strategic Partnerships & Grants. “Josh is a natural leader. He has a quiet seriousness about him. And he really has a mind to problemsolve and that will help in whatever he decides to do.”
The teen said he doesn’t see himself as a particularly studious sort. He’s a senior who loves playing a fast-paced, high-scoring game of football with his teammates.
In lieu of surgery, his doctor prescribed a Boston Bucket brace for the athlete to wear. An orthotist measured Schroeder to make the hard plastic brace that was custom-molded to his body shape.
He wore the restrictive brace for seven weeks, 23 hours a day.
Schroeder said the past season was tough. He wasn’t the only player injured on his team; a friend’s shoulder injury was worse, he said.
His parents, Philip and Melissa Schroeder, along with his teammates and girlfriend all offered their support that helped him manage the aches.
After his time wearing the brace ended, he began physical therapy to build up his back strength to prevent further injuries.
Working out has been his favorite pastime, but he had to work through the physical therapy sessions. He said his therapist, John Morello, makes that workout fun by talking about sports.
Schroeder has played football since the sixth grade. Often taller and bigger than his peers, Schroeder has played on the gridiron every year except in seventh grade when he was a manager.
One of the football team’s five captains during his senior year, he played both sides of the ball as is common in the 6-man game, but he only lined up on defense as a linebacker when needed.
His focus these days is on higher education. He’s undecided on which university he plans to attend. He’s applied to Texas A&M, University of Texas at San Antonio, University of the Incarnate Word and Houston Baptist.
Schroeder does know he’ll always have fond memories of his gridiron days.
He’ll remember the referee’s whistle that started a game and settled his nerves. He’ll remember running the ball behind friends clearing a path through an opponent’s defense. He’ll miss the loud roar of the crowd and the bright glare of the Friday night lights.
But, knowing that a pro athletic career isn’t in the cards, he’s ready to tackle the new challenges of his future.