HURST, Texas — Let them tell it, this year’s L.D. Bell’s women’s basketball team wasn’t the tallest or most athletic
The parents who watched them all season will say they weren’t really all that flashy either.
“I don't think they walk around thinking like, ohh, we're we're all big and bad,” said Martha Mizell who had two daughters on this year’s varsity squad.
What they do have is fundamental skills, grit, and a lot of heart.
“My coach says this all the time, these other teams, they have like D1 recruits everything and it's me, me, me, me but on our team it's us,” said senior guard Enyce Williams.
The team – without a single D1 commit finished the season 30 and 5 and at one point, they were ranked 11th in the state.
“We didn't expect it to be this good,” Enyce said.
Neither did head coach Andy Bloodworth.
“No way in the world I thought we would be sitting here with 29+ wins this year,” he said.
That momentum snapped when Enyce tore her ACL in a late-season game, the third tear on this team this year.
“It sucks, but I just want them to know that I'm there for them as a teammate on the bench,” she said.
But if she needed a lesson on adversity or overcoming an injury like this, all she had to do was look at her coach.
“And he had to work and show people that he is a threat,” she said. “And especially with, you know, his leg, he has one leg.”
You see watching Bloodworth on the sideline at a game, you would never know that he wears a prosthetic leg. Or that he taught himself how to walk with it. He’s had it for almost 25 years.
“Going all the way back to when it first happened. Just noticed a little bit of swelling in the back of my ankle,” he said.
The former college athlete was just 25 and in his first year teaching.
“Long story short, fast forward jumping through a lot of hoops a lot of biopsies,” he said. “We get the word that it is cancer.”
Doctors gave him two options.
“You keep your leg and never remember it the way it was. We'll go in and scoop the tumor out and you're going to have roughly 30-40% chance of survival. Or we can be more aggressive and there will be about a 70% chance of survival,” he said. “I said. Let's go. Let's, let's get it done. There's no decision.”
They amputated his lower leg followed by 17 rounds of chemo then word coach Bloodworth was cancer-free.
“Honestly, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. I'm glad it's over, but it's it makes you stronger. It makes you stronger. It makes you appreciate the small things,” Bloodworth said.
The small things like being able to step in to help with a drill at practice. And teaching young athletes important lessons.
“No matter what you face, no matter what adversity you face, you're going to be OK,” Enyce said.
Lessons in winning at life, they’re getting even from a coach who’s lost so much.