Lakes' Schneider stands up to stress fractures, diabetes

If he couldn't play basketball, Justin Schneider was determined to make himself useful in the gym.

So he worked the video camera.

He kept the scorebook.

He ran the clock in practice.

He got towels and water.

"My teammates called me Lake County's biggest water boy," Schneider said with a laugh. "I was Lake County's biggest manager, too."

At 6-foot-9, that's probably not far off.

Most 6-foot-9 guys hanging around a basketball court are actually playing basketball, not playing gopher.

But Schneider, Lakes' senior center, was sidelined due to strict doctors' orders. He missed all but four games last season due to a serious back injury. Ironically, that injury was tied to him shooting up to 6-foot-9 in the first place.

He grew too fast, too quickly the summer before his junior year. Two inches in less than a month. That was on top of the two inches of height he quickly added each of the three years before that.

Most basketball players would love to add height like that. But for Schneider, that rapid growth turned out to be a pain in the neck - or in the back, to be more precise.

Schneider wound up getting multiple stress fractures in his back that summer because his body simply couldn't keep up with itself. Add to it all the pounding Schneider kept putting his body through while playing basketball non-stop to prepare for the season, and his back finally gave out.

He played through pain in Lakes' first two games, and could barely hobble off the court after dunking the ball in the second game. He then was out until the final two games of the season.

"But he was only a shell of himself at that point," Lakes coach Chris Snyder said of Schneider. "He didn't get to play like the player he really is."

So this season, Schneider, the former water boy, is drinking it all in, so to speak, enjoying every moment of his one and only full season of varsity basketball.

He's playing, not surprisingly, with a sense of urgency, too. A leader on the defensive end with 2.2 blocks per game and a school-record 21 drawn charges, Schneider is averaging 10 points and 10 rebounds for a Lakes team that is 14-7 and in position to challenge for the North Suburban Conference Prairie Division title.

At 8-1 in the Prairie, Lakes trails perennial power North Chicago by one game and can force a tie in the standings by pulling out a win on the Warhawks' homecourt tonight.

Lakes went just 9-20 last season without Schneider.

"Not being able to play last year and watching my teammates out there without me was really hard," Schneider said. "We had a tough season last year, too. It was hard just sitting there, not being able to help them out.

"It made me really motivated to come in here this year and help my team and prove that I could hang with the best centers in the area. I know there are some things I could be doing better, but I think I'm on that list."

Schneider, whose best game of the season (15 points, 15 rebounds, 5 drawn charges and 2 blocks) came against one of the other top centers in the county, Grayslake Central's Casey Boyle, knows all about lists. He knows all about charts and labels, too, the kind of lists, charts and labels that are in a doctor's office.

While battling his back problems, Schneider was also battling his diabetes.

He was diagnosed as a Type I diabetic as a freshman in high school.

"It kind of came out of nowhere because no one in my family had it and it's supposed to be genetic," Schneider said. "But the signs were also there all summer before my freshman year. I was always thirsty, always going to the bathroom. I had dark circles under my eyes and I lost a lot of weight. My vision started to get really bad.

"When I found out I had diabetes, I bawled. I cried so hard. But that's mostly because I didn't know what diabetes was or what I was in for."

Like most diabetics, Schneider has to give himself shots and constantly monitor his blood sugars. He'll sometimes have to pull himself out of games or practices until he's able to get his levels just so.

But like stress fractures in his back, which he now staves off with careful stretching and rigorous core exercises, diabetes can't keep Schneider down, or away from basketball.

"I feel proud of myself that I've been able to overcome all types of things," Schneider said. "Diabetes and my back injury taught me that I need to take better care of myself and that I'm not invincible. I think I'm a better, stronger person for that. I think that's helped me on the basketball court."

Schneider is hoping that his days on the court are far from over. After all, they've barely just begun.

He's hoping to make up for the lost time of last season by playing basketball in college. He has several Division III schools after him, including frontrunner Loras College.

"I think Justin is going to do very well in college because his best basketball is in front of him," Snyder said. "He's got size, he's got skills, he's polished and has a good touch around the basket. He's also one of the hardest workers on our team.

"He just hasn't had much time to put it all together. The great thing about him is that I still think he's one of the best centers in Lake County."

Next to being Lake County's biggest water boy, that's a pretty impressive feat.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com