'My world kind of changed': Diabetes can't stop South's Schmitz
Bloomington South boys' basketball coach J.R. Holmes has long demanded his players be more than one-dimensional.
Senior guard Aiden Schmitz’s forte has long been shooting the basketball, but he had to show more to earn one of the open starting spots when the season began.
“That’s a big thing with Coach Holmes, ‘Can you do something else?” Schmitz said. “I feel like in the summertime I showed that I could do lot more things, like bringing ball up, passing, rebounding, defending somewhat, even though (Holmes) doesn’t think I’m the greatest defender. But I try my hardest.”
Off the court, however, Schmitz has to be on the offensive 24 hours a day.
Shocking diagnosis
Schmitz was a typically active 13-year-old middle school basketball player, but noticed at 115 pounds, he was losing weight. He brushed it off at first, figuring he was simply burning off too many calories while playing a lot of basketball.
“But I was drinking a lot and really tired,” Schmitz said. “My grandma’s diabetic, so I checked my sugar at her house and it was 500 (milligrams per deciliter).”
A normal result is 140 or less.
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So the family headed to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, where the diagnosis was Aiden was also Type 1 diabetic.
“You never think, you know, you think diabetes as a kid you think it’s eating too much candy, or something like that,” Schmitz said. “But I learned a lot. It's just genetic, Type 1 is.
“My world kind of changed a little bit for me. Telling all my friends and explaining it to them. Learning all about it is hard. My family didn’t know much about it.”
The road ahead
One of the first questions Schmitz had was could he safely continue to play basketball? Doctors said yes, noting there are several professional athletes with Type 1 diabetes.
The list includes former NBA player Chris Dudley, who runs the only residential camp in the world specifically for T1D players, former Gonzaga basketball standout Adam Morrison and former Heritage Hills/Vanderbilt/Chicago Bear quarterback Jay Cutler.
“That was a big plus I could still do something I love,” Schmitz said.
A daily routine evolved beyond regular doctor’s visits, checking his blood-sugar levels, and either eating or drinking something to raise his levels or administering insulin to lower it. He keeps sports drinks, juice bottles and appropriate snacks stashed everywhere, from his car to his bedroom, just in case.
“There’s a lot to it,” he said. “I’m used to it now.”
Needles were one thing he had to get past.
“I’m not really a big shot person, as kid I don’t think anyone is,” Schmitz said, “But I got used to it pretty quick. It’s second nature now. It doesn’t really bother me like it used to.”
Schmitz has to pay attention to his body when he’s practicing or playing, and occasionally, he can feel something is off and gives a nod to his coaches and heads to the locker room to check his numbers and respond appropriately.
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"I’ve had it all four years I’ve been here, so they know me pretty well,” Schmitz said.
Meeting another player on his AAU team who is also Type 1 diabetic was also good fortune.
“He helped me out a lot,” Schmitz said. “It was a big help just knowing someone else who had it, so I didn’t feel alone.”
No holding back
Schmitz has to be careful about what he eats, especially during the season, but he’s never allowed it to slow him down nor has it diminished his dream of playing college basketball.
“I never thought it would stop me from what I’d like to do,” Schmitz said.
No one has ever stopped him from his unusual shooting method, which tends to put a sideways spin in the ball, instead of the traditional reverse spin. He’s hit a team high 50, with at least one in every game but three and has a season high of four. He brings a 9.3 ppg average into Friday's sectional opener against Center Grove.
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“It just feels good,” Schmitz said. “It was going in a lot as a kid and nobody told me to stop, so I just kept rolling with it. I’ve tried to change it before and I’ve just gone back to that. For the most part, it’s working.”
Well enough to draw interest from a pair of NCAA Division III programs in Aurora (Ill.) and Loras (Iowa). Schmitz said he recently committed to Loras, located in Dubuque. The Duhawks went 17-11, making it to the American Rivers Conference tournament title game.
He’s been aiming toward that goal since he started playing.
“It really takes off the pressure on the basketball court,” he said. “I feel more free not having to worry about where I’m going to go. I don’t want (my career) to end. I made it, so there’s a sigh of relief.”
Contact Jim Gordillo at jgordillo@heraldt.com or 812-331-4381 and follow on Twitter @JimGordillo.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 'My world kind of changed': Diabetes can't stop South's Schmitz
