Athletes are always at a high risk for injuries. Pitt-Johnstown athletes have suffered serious injuries playing the sport that they love.

Junior pitcher Devon Walker played for the Mountain Cats last season, but is no able to play due to injury.

While pitching, Walker hurt his ulnar collateral ligament, putting him out of baseball for a while.

“When I initially got injured, I just knew that something was not right, then I was really disappointed when I found out what was wrong with me,” said Walker.

“I am still technically out, indefinitely,” said Walker.

“Rehab is about a year long, so I obviously will not play my junior year.”

According to Walker, he never did tear his ulnar collateral ligament, it was a different injury report.

“I had an evulsion fracture in my right elbow,” said Walker.

When it came time to fix the problem, Walker said that he had to wait two months before surgery, but, his surgery, something worse happened.

“My nerve got entrapped in scar tissue,” said Walker.

“That created pressure on my nerve, causing my hand to go numb constantly.”

To fix the problem that happened during surgery, Walker said that he had to endure a second surgery to get back to normal.

Walker said that he was relieved about the second surgery.

“I was happy that there was something that they could do to try and help my nerve,” said Walker.

Injuring an arm in a sport that requires its constant use, it is difficult for Walker to endure, but when it comes to a sport that relies on legs more, a leg injury could be devastating.

Pitt-Johnstown basketball junior guard Romano Sebastiani endured, a leg injury.

Sebastiani injured his kneecap and said it was two-fold.

“I first injured it last year, and then I re-injured it a couple of weeks ago,” said Sebastiani.

“Last year, I completely dislocated my kneecap, and it moved over to the right side of my knee,” said Sebastiani.

“This year, I only partially dislocated it, because I felt my kneecap move, but it did not stay out of place; it moved right back.”

“This year, I was on offense, and I jump-stopped when it happened,” said Sebastiani. “Coincidentally, both instances were on the exact same area of the court.”

According to Sebastiani, no surgery was needed either time because here was no major structural damage.

With every injury, rehab is needed. According to Sebastiani, he resorted to stretches.

“For rehab, I pretty much just did a lot of different stretches to try and re-strengthen it, and now I am playing again with my knee brace, which helps to keep my knee in place,” said Sebastiani.