‘Toughest player I ever coached’

On one side of the coin, Sydni Walker had the kind of high school basketball career of which most young people in Oklahoma can only dream.

On the other side of that same coin, Sydni Walker suffered through more injuries, endured more pain and shed more private tears than most people can ever bear.

Walker relishes in her time spent in a Lomega Lady Raiders uniform.

She’ll tell you about the tradition, The Big House, the gold balls and the forever sisterhood that comes with playing for one of the most storied programs in America.

She won’t tell you - unless she’s asked - about the debilitating pain, the doctor visits, the MRIs, the rehab and the mental anguish it took to be a part of that glory.

But she did it. “Very few people even realized she was injured, let alone how serious her injuries were and how much sacrifice went into playing the game she loved for her team, her coach and her school,” said her mother, Cara (Geis) Walker.

••• Sydni Walker played in the final basketball game of her career on Saturday.

For one last time, she suited up alongside her best friend and forever teammate, Darcy Roberts, to represent the Small West in the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association All-State Game.

She scored. She grabbed rebounds. She blocked shots. She ran the floor.

She did much the same just days earlier in the K101 Classic Bowl basketball all-star games in Woodward.

“She played really well in both of them. She did all the things she’s always done so well for us,” said her high school coach, Kevin Lewallen. “If you didn’t know about her situation, then you just wouldn’t know.”

Her situation was that Walker played those games with rods and pins in her right foot.

Walker had surgery on April 13 so she COULD play in those games.

She was originally slated to have the surgery after the fact, but her specialist said the severity of her injuries would have caused them to exponentially worsen, forcing her to miss out on her dream of playing in the All-State game.

So, like so many times before, Walker endured.

In doing so, she carried on a family tradition.

Her mother earned All-State for Lomega in 1997.

Her aunt, Julie (Geis) Myers, did the same in 1991.

Like those family members, Walker also helped carry on the epic Lomega girls basketball tradition.

In fact, her senior class ranks right up there with just about any that came before her.

Walker started in four state championship games.

The Lady Raiders won Class B titles in 2020 and 2021 - even going undefeated in the latter - and then were runners-up in 2022 and 2023.

“Most people never get to experience the state tournament, much less a state championship,” Lewallen said. “Sydni and Darcy and that class got to play for four state championships. You just don’t see that very often.”

During that four-year stretch, Lomega was 110-10. The Lady Raiders won 92 percent of their games with Walker as a Lady Raider.

Six of those losses came during Walker’s junior season, one in which Lomega battled through a tough schedule and still made its way to the state finals.

It was also a time in which Walker, especially in the second half of the season, struggled to just walk across a room without suffering some sense of pain.

That’s maybe when it was at its worst, but it certainly wasn’t the beginning.

••• Sydni Walker was quite shy growing up and she didn’t exude much self-confi dence.

Unless she was on a basketball court. “Syd has always loved playing basketball since she was little,” said her mother. “It was the one area of her life that she felt comfortable and confident.”

Like many who grow up in that western part of Kingfisher County, she spent countless hours in the gym.

In the fourth grade, Walker and Roberts realized they had a common bond.

“We both had very similar dreams when it came to basketball,” Roberts said. “We had both watched so many before us play in ‘The Big House’ for a chance at winning a gold ball and we wanted nothing more than for a chance at just that for ourselves.”

They played elementary ball together. They played junior high ball together.

Their teams were practically untouchable.

Then it came their time to experience their dream of playing on the high school team.

They were going to be Lomega Lady Raiders.

But, first, came summer league.

It was the summer of 2019.

Lomega was already looking the part of a state champion, but Lewallen knew something wasn’t right with his freshman center.

“He could tell I was having pain in my foot during summer league,” Walker said.

Lewallen sent Walker to Dr. Matt Diesselhorst, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine with a focus on athletes.

That’s when Walker began a trek that would have her more familiar with the different parts of a foot than any teenager should be.

An MRI revealed Walker had stress fractures in five bones in her mid- and hind-foot.

Then she rattled them off.

“Talus, navicular, cuboid, lateral cuneiform, middle cuneiform, as well as a partial tear in a tendon,” she said.

She was put in a walking boot for a while, then followed it up with another MRI.

There was no improvement, which meant a cast and then a walking boot again.

That bit of bad news also meant Walker was going to be forced to miss the front half of her freshman season of basketball.

Without Walker and junior Emma Duffy, who tore her ACL in that summer, Lomega stumbled a bit out of the gate. The Lady Raiders started 3-2 with losses to Okarche and Calumet.

The team settled in and won its final five games before the Christmas break.

Walker was adamant with Diesselhorst that she needed to be on the court after that break.

“I shared with him I had to play and now was the time so we could be ready as a team to win a state championship,” she said.

Walker returned. So did Duffy.

Lomega didn’t lose again that season.

Not long after Walker and her teammates hoisted the gold ball for the 14th time in school history, she returned to the doctor.

There were more stress fractures in the same bones and she was put back in a cast, then a walking boot before being cleared to play again in September 2020, just before the start of her sophomore year.

The pain remained, but Walker managed it for the entire season.

Meanwhile, Lomega made more history by going 27-0 and winning state title No. 15.

“Our dream came true on March 7, 2020, when we won our first state title and again on March 6, 2021, when we won our second,” Roberts said.

With the likes of Duffy and Adysen Wilson graduating, players like Walker and Roberts would take on even bigger roles on the team beginning in their junior season of 2021-22.

But starting in January of that season, the pain became truly debilitating for Walker.

She tried to mask it. To hide it.

But… “Coach could tell,” she said.

Diesselhorst and his team helped Walker manage the pain through the end of the season. If she wasn’t practicing or playing, Walker was to be in a walking boot.

Lomega fell just shy of its goal, but still was the Class B state runner-up.

Shortly after, an MRI revealed why Walker’s pain was so intense.

A nickel-sized piece of bone had broken off in the back of her foot (the posterior talus, she can tell you).

On top of that, Waker had five stress fractures in four bones.

“Anterior and posterior talus, navicular, cuneiform, lateral cuneiform,” she said.

Walker was placed back in a cast, which was followed by yet another walking boot.

Another MRI in June showed little to no improvement, so Diesselhorst referred Walker to Dr. Joel Davis, a foot and ankle orthopedic specialist.

Relief would soon be Walker’s.

“After her first appointment with him, he knew exactly what to do to fix the problem and fix all the fractures she had for the past three years,” said Cara.

The July 2022 surgery fixed the fractures and removed the piece of bone that was broken off.

“He also removed a calcaneonavicular coalition, which is a rare injury often missed in MRIs,” Walker said.

The surgery worked and Walker was released to practice and play Oct. 1, 2022, the beginning of her senior season.

And when she did, she experienced a sensation she hadn’t felt in years.

No pain. “For the first time in four years, I had no pain to walk across a room!” Walker said.

“I was able to jump and play with minimal pain as compared to the past three years.”

Watching her daughter push herself through indescribable pain for years was almost more than Cara could endure.

“My heart broke a million times every time she’d play because I knew the sacrifice and pain that went into every single step, jump, shot or run down the court,” she said.

So to see her daughter pain-free for the first time in her basketball career brought out the exact opposite emotions.

“It made my heart so happy to see her not hurting and to see her heart so hopeful for a final year free of pain to be able to play the game she loves so much like she is capable of,” Cara said.

“It’s a feeling we hadn’t known for so long.”

But it also wouldn’t last long.

Until about Thanksgiving, to be exact.

“Excessive pain started again, but this time in a completely different area: my forefoot,” Walker said.

“The pain was frighteningly familiar, yet the center of that pain was totally different.”

It got worse by Christmas.

An MRI ordered by Davis showed Walker now had suffered severe stress fractures in her second and third metatarsals, as well as in the first metatarsal head.

Davis recommended surgery right away.

“But I told him I wanted to finish my senior year to try to help win the gold ball for my team, for coach and because I love to play the game of basketball,” Walker said.

The doctor went over the possible consequences with Walker. It wasn’t a shiny picture.

“My choice to play remained,” she said.

••• With the exception of one small window of time, there’s been one constant for Walker in her basketball career.

“In the past four years, there have been two months that I’ve had no pain in my foot,” she said. “Raising up on my toes - which is any jump, shot, stride in running - has caused debilitating pain.” Whether in its early stages or at its worst, playing through that pain was never easy.

She just didn’t want people to see that part of it.

“The majority of the time while playing, adrenaline kicked in to limit pain,” she admitted. “But once I stopped, whether it be for free throws or timeouts, or got taken out, pain hit with a vengeance, like fire.”

Roberts, her best friend and teammate, knew.

“All four years, Syd was killing herself to appear to be okay, pretending as though nothing was bothering her and nothing was wrong,” Roberts said.

“But there was. Every. Single. Day. She killed herself to make it easier on each one of us.”

Roberts saw Walker pushing herself in practice, even on days when she could have taken it easy.

“She pushed herself beyond her limits just to better us as a team,” Roberts said. “And I always knew the days where it would hurt her the worst. It was always the same routine: sit down on the bench, take off her shoe, take off her ankle brace, rub her foot, put the ankle brace back on, making sure to leave it a little looser this time, and finally put back on her shoe to stand up and go play 10 more minutes on a throbbing foot.

“But, again, not a single complaint.”

There were times, in private, when Walker might relent and show her emotions with Roberts, but they were rare.

“To be honest,” she said, “only those closest to me ever saw me break down.”

That included Roberts. “There were days where I would ask her about it and give her all the freedom to vent and release all the pain the injury has been causing her, but more often than not she tried her best to hide all the pain behind a smile,” Roberts said.

“She’s quite literally one of the toughest people I know.”

But Walker was still a teenager experiencing injury after injury, which tried to keep her from achieving her dreams and goals.

There was heartbreak, especially when the different injuries formed her senior year.

But there was also a realization, both from Walker and her parents.

“Knowing that her heart wanted to keep playing and even though she would cry - never complaining - we knew life is often hard and that because of her desire and dedication to play, this would make her into a stronger young woman to help her face life’s challenges,” Cara said.

“But still, after seeing her cry, I would go into the other room where she couldn’t see me and cry my eyes out because I couldn’t handle seeing her hurt so much.”

Walker accepts her injuries with the maturity of someone well beyond her years.

“I guess I’ve always known how blessed I am to be able to walk, run and play ball even if it was with pain when so many people don’t have that luxury,” she said.

“So many people would give absolutely anything just to be able to do any of those things and I’ll never take that for granted. If I could physically do it, I could handle the pain.

“After spending so much time in walking boots, casts and with limited activity, I’ll never take for granted the ability to walk, to run or to participate in sports. The ability to do those activities, even with pain, is truly a gift.”

••• Walker used that gift to help Lomega once again reach the 2023 Class B state championship game.

The Lady Raiders knocked off defending state champion Varnum in the semifinals before falling to Hammon in the title game.

As Walker took those final steps on The Big House court, she did so with three complete fractures in her foot.

She once again experienced pain, but this time it wasn’t physical.

“My goal has always been to win four gold balls with my team. We came short the past two years and this year when I heard the final buzzer, my heart completely broke,” she said.

“I’ve shed many tears in private over the years because, at times, the pain in my foot was nearly more than I could take.

“But my tears after the final buzzer represented so much more….absolute heartbreak for an end to something I love so much and have given so much to, including sacrificing my own health.”

Jake and Cara Walker watched their daughter break down on the State Fair Arena court after her final high school game.

Their hearts hurt, but there was also a sense of pride…pride that Sydni finished her career on the court and not on the sidelines.

That was a pain none of them could handle.

“As parents, it was heartbreaking to see her in so much pain. She wanted to be out on the court with all her heart, then to watch as injury kept her from that was nearly as much as I could take,” Cara said. “Knowing just how much her heart hurt when she wasn’t able to play made seeing her getting to play so much sweeter.

“Seeing her realize her dream made us know that we had made the right decision in allowing her to continue to play and allowed her to achieve her dreams of playing in the state championship game all four years of high school, bringing home two gold balls and being selected as an all-stater.”

••• Some of the stats for Walker’s career include:

• 2 gold balls

• 2 silver balls

• 110 wins

• 56-game win streak

• Numerous all-tournament teams

• 1,081 points

• 842 rebounds

• 1 All-State jacket Other numbers include:

• 6 MRIs

• 4 walking boots

• 4 casts

• 2 surgeries

• Countless fractures

• Countless X-rays

• Unending physical therapy Lewallen watched it all. He would tell Walker to let him know when she couldn’t “go” any more on the basketball court.

She never gave him that word.

“She’s absolutely the toughest player I ever coached,” Lewallen said. “No question.”

Walker was a coach’s dream…and the ultimate teammate.

“She sacrificed so much to help the team succeed and I know that will never go unnoticed,” Roberts said.

“I wish I could say our basketball journey together didn’t have to end…I wish I could say we were going to continue our journey in college, but I’m so proud of her for finally making the decision to step away and heal.”

Time will heal the physical pain for Walker, though injuries aren’t what she mentions when reflecting on her career.

“I absolutely love playing the game and I’ve been so blessed to be a part of an extra special team with amazing teammates all four years, to play for Coach Lew and to start in the State Championship game all four years of my high school career,” she said.

Walker wasn’t just all about basketball.

She was a class valedictorian, a member of the National Honor Society, FCA, Student Council, was voted Lomega High School queen during her senior year and she plans to pursue a career in nursing.

But basketball was a big part of her identity.

It’s where she knew she belonged.

It brought her pain, but also tremendous joy.

She’s eager for the former - whether physical or mental - to fade and for the latter to endure.

“The thought of ending the year not bringing home the gold ball for our team, our coach and our community hurts so much right now,” she said.

“But someday, I’ll be able to think of the amazing memories, look at the special pictures and will be forever thankful that I was able to play the game I love with the best teammates and coach.”