Life-changing.
It best describes the relationship between David Neuberger, a Division I football recruit from Davenport, Iowa’s Assumption High School, and Rock Valley Physical Therapy.
A gifted athlete, tremendous teammate and a leader respected by his coaches, teammates and opponents, Neuberger was injured in his team’s final 2021 regular-season football game.
He did, however, reveal his injury.
“I took a shot to the head against Maquoketa (Iowa) in that (final regular season) game,’’ said Neuberger, who will be playing at the Division I level this summer when the University of North Dakota opens football camp.
The hard-working, all-district and all-conference defensive back/receiver at Assumption, was North Dakota’s top long-snapping recruit for the Class of 2022.
Neuberger is ranked 24th nationally by the prestigious Kohl’s Kicking Camps, the nationally recognized rankings service used by hundreds of Div. I programs and ESPN. Neuberger turned down numerous NCAA Div. II, Div. III and NAIA football offers to play multiple positions, to chase his dream as a Div. I long snapper.
“Foolishly, and I mean this, I kept the (head) injury to myself,’’ Neuberger added. “I wasn’t right, but I felt I was OK to practice that week and I believed I was fine for our playoff game.’’
With respect to athletes everywhere, Neuberger’s move is typical. No one wants to not battle with one’s brothers under the Friday night lights. On the other hand, no injury, especially a blow to the head, should ever be kept from a school’s certified athletic trainer, its coaches and one’s parents.
In the Knights’ playoff game, a heartbreaking loss to top-ranked Solon (Iowa), Neuberger took another blow to the head.
Following the contest, he approached Rock Valley Physical Therapy’s Kaelene Kragenbrink-Voorhees (ATC, LAT), the longtime lead athletic trainer at Assumption. Voorhees, recognized statewide and nationally for her body of outstanding work, immediately ran Neuberger through a lengthy series of tests.
She then placed him in concussion protocol.
“We also sent him to the emergency room for some imaging,’’ Voorhees said. “There were issues we wanted and answers we wanted just to be safe.’’
To play football at any level – especially at college football’s highest level – requires tremendous agility, speed, great vision and strength.
To be a next-level long snapper, it takes tremendous leverage, eye-hand coordination few possess, and a combination of head movements unique only to that position. The snap for a punt, PAT or field goal requires skills, gifts and movements Neuberger was struggling to maintain as result of his concussion.
“I’m a “looker’’ when I snap,’’ Neuberher said, noting he peers through his legs at his target when he snaps a punt (15 yards) or a PAT/FG (7 yards). “I need balance and vision when I snap the ball, then to look up after snapping to run down the field. I need balance on a FG or PAT snap. I did not have that with my concussion.’’
A week after being placed in concussion protocol, Neuberger’s symptoms persisted. That’s when Voorhees called on Rock Valley Physical Therapy’s Jenna Bush, DPT, PT, CCVT, a gifted physical therapist and specialty-trained in treating patients with inner ear dysfunction (vestibular).
A Division I track athlete while at the University Of Northern Iowa, Bush began working with Neuberger on a series of positional maneuvers, eye-coordination exercises, static and dynamic balance training tasks, often involving head turns.
Bush possessed a rock-solid understanding where Neuberger was and where he needed to be to return to snapping. It was a passionate physical therapist and a dedicated athlete working side-by-side to safely better the life – and future – of a young person chasing a dream.
“In normal everyday movement, the eyes should move at the same speed as the head which is vital with high speed movements or high acuity activities such as football and long snapping,’’ said Bush, who will lead a concussion care open house Wednesday, April 27, from 5-8 p.m. at Rock Valley Physical Therapy, 3385 Dexter Court Suite 203, Pavillion 2, Davenport, Iowa.
Bush, it should be noted, serves as the Dexter Court clinic manager.
“Typically, if this eye-and-head ratio is impaired or eye movements themselves are slow people end up with dizziness, fogginess, and sometimes headaches. In David’s case he was symptomatic with both high-speed eye movements and with low-high speed head movements initially following his injury,’’ added Bush. “We worked with both to get him back to play at highest level.’’
The results were off-the-charts.
And life-changing.
In less than six weeks, Bush and Neuberger worked diligently to return him to health and prep him for what was a life-changing challenge.
In mid- December, 2021, competing at a Kohl’s kicking and specialists challenge in Chicago, Neuberger shined brightly. Truth-be-told, his effort was chart-busing. When the dust had cleared, Neubeger’s snap times and his agility work had earned him the ranking as the No. 24 long snapping prospect in the country.
The impressive weekend paved the way for the Div, I offer by North Dakota to Nuebeger.
“I cannot tell you how grateful I am to Kaelene and to Jenna,’’ a modest Neuberger said. “The time, the effort and the care they both gave me. Jenna was amazing. She is so knowledgeable, but always had the time to explain everything we were doing and the benefits. We know how valuable Kaelene is to our school; we couldn’t do what we do without her. She is amazing. I was struggling when I got to Jenna, but she fixed that. She was so determined to help me get better and get to the next level.’’
The relationship between Neuberger and Rock Valley also created a career path for the high school senior.
“I want to be a physical therapist,’’ he said. “I didn’t know much about it before this happened to me, but it has opened my eyes to the great things about it, the impact it has on lives and that you can always make a difference.. North Dakota has a 3-3-1 program that will allow me to chase my dream of being a PT, make a difference in the lives of others and chase my dream of snapping at the next level. I now have a career path. I owe that to Kaelene and to Jenna.’’
And a bright future on the gridiron.
By: Johnny Marx, Storyteller