Aidan Maloney (20). (Photo courtesy of Laura McDonald Photography)
BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. — Aidan Maroney earned a spot on the varsity men's volleyball team at age 17 without ever playing on a high school team, and while that's impressive, he somehow never made it to Ballston Spa in December. The graduate journey may not be the most awe-inspiring part of the spa.
Long before Maroney thought of stepping onto the hardwood, hitting a serve over the net, or even doing anything athletic, he was typically lying in a hospital bed or operating room, “almost paralyzed.'' His right arm was surgically repaired. His mother, Michelle Montagnier, says he's been talking about it since he was born.
Maroney was born with a brachial plexus injury, a type of shoulder dystocia. This meant that the nerves that run from her spinal cord through her neck and into her arms were stretched and damaged, leaving her right arm severely disabled. When she was nine months old, Maroney underwent the first of five surgeries under the guidance of a Houston, Texas, surgeon to correct her condition.
Sports were the least of mother and son's worries.
“What happened was that the nerves themselves started to regrow and reconnect, but during that time all the nerves had no movement, no information, so the muscles started to shorten and the joints started to atrophy. , any twisting or rotation there would require surgery to realign the joint and reattach the muscles, meaning the muscles in his right arm are attached in different places than you or I. There are,” Montagnier said in a recent phone interview with The Saratogian.
“I never thought he would play such a competitive sport. In elementary school we encouraged him to play chess and he even competed in chess tournaments. He was very good at it, but… We never thought he would ever be able to do it, so we were always looking for non-physical options,” she continued, “I remember the moment I wondered who would help him tie the knot.” All he thought about was what his shoes would be like when he grew up, who would help him get dressed, and so on. He's always understood that, from the time he was six months old to now playing college volleyball. ”
Maroney underwent muscle relocation, shoulder reconstruction, bicep lengthening, two nerve repair surgeries in his forearm and neck, and a cast around his chest and arm and up to his neck to keep his body in place. Did. She was in awkward formations and could never participate in the usual childish activities.
As Montagnier recalled for her son, there were no monkey bars on the playground, no push-ups or lifting of any kind, and 504 plans in gym class. But it took Maroney a little longer to understand the significance of her disability, she remembers.
“I didn't really realize it, but it seemed like it had a huge influence on my life, which was weird. A lot of it was just, I've been a huge football fan since I was a kid, and I've always been a big football fan (of San Francisco). I was a big 49ers fan, but it was never going to be in my cards because it was never about playing physical sports. I had some ideas about sports, but I wasn't really into all the non-contact sports, so I ended up just playing video games,” Montagnier said. Told.
“I never realized I didn't have[a right arm]. I thought it was normal for my right arm to not function as well,” he continued, “so until I found out later, I was like, 'Oh no. , I was like, “This must be something that everyone has.'' And I thought, “Wow, my right arm is really uncoordinated compared to my left.'' I was born as an advantageous person. ”
Playing video games, chess, or simply being stuck at home wasn't an unusual way of life for many people not too long ago during the coronavirus pandemic. And like many people, Maroney was ready to step out of the situation once normalcy began to return. But again, unlike the others, Maroney had her own precautionary situation even after returning to her daily life.
In June 2021, Maroney came home from school and asked her mother if she could join her local gym, the Malta YMCA. His mother's reaction was not one of defiance, but of encouragement, although of course there was some hesitation at first.
“He came home and said, “I want to go to the gym,'' and I said, “Well, I don't think it's going to last more than two weeks, so please pay me,'' Montagnier said. Ta. She began donating funds to her son's new cause a month after her first. “Since then, he's been in the gym probably two hours a day, and now he's doing weightlifting and whatever he probably shouldn't be doing because of his injury. He tried it, did it, and that's how he It changed my life.''He benches about 220 (pounds). ridiculous. “
“For the first month or so, I was totally obsessed with it, but then I realized how bad it is for your joints to break down prematurely. But a lot of it was just looking at what I liked, putting my all into it, and seeing what I could get out of it,” Aidan said. Told.
“As soon as I had something over my head, I thought, 'Oh, I can't do that, I can't do that,'” he continued about his initial limitations. “I wanted to get serious about Olympic lifting, but his shoulder wasn't moving much, so I completely ignored that idea and stuck to other things instead.”
Later that summer, Aidan decided to take another step forward in pushing the limits of his condition and pursued volleyball. But there he encountered his next hurdle. His high school, Ballston Spa, didn't offer a varsity team.
As is typical of them, his mother stepped in and looked him up through Facebook, where she learned about John Colletta, the head coach of both Shenendehowa High School's boys varsity volleyball team and the Capital Sliders club team. Ta.
“John Colletta has very open arms. He just embraces any kid who has even the slightest idea of wanting to play volleyball and says, 'Go for it,'” Michelle said. “So when this happened, the season was coming to an end, but they were doing a little bit of a summer program where they just played outdoors, and it was a much more relaxed, laid-back atmosphere, and they “Let him down,” I said. So at first I did that about twice a week and that was it. Aidan was hooked. ”
“Poor John answered my questions about what he was going to do and how he was going to do it, and he was very supportive as we tried to figure out how to involve him.”
Due to his late start in track and field, let alone volleyball, Aidan was far behind in experience and skill compared to his new teammates. That was clear from the beginning, but again, there was no stopping him.
“I almost got stepped on a curb. It was more like just getting together and playing volleyball than a formal practice. But no one made it easy for me,” Maroney recalled. . “The first time I played with the seniors, I completely lost. It was tough. But it was great to come back.”
Maroney may have been at an early disadvantage, but neither he nor his mother told Coretta the real reason. Montagnier said it wasn't until the start of the Sliders' last season, two years after he joined the team, that he finally opened up about his son's condition and what he went through to be a part of the team.
“It just didn't come up in the conversation and I didn't know why and they had no idea. I think it was at the beginning of the season and we were just talking about how well he was doing. We were talking and I said something and John and they were like, 'What?' Like, we didn't even know this was happening,” Montagnier recalled. “It's just a slight difference in movement, a slight difference in movement or scarring, so unless you have a very sensitive physical therapy eye that can see it, you wouldn't notice it. Unbelievable. .
“I mean, when he was playing, any new volleyball player has a hard time. Especially when you're playing with kids, they really struggle, and he quickly moved on to the junior varsity and varsity teams. He just kept putting himself in that position and I really tried not to judge completely, because that would be tough.'' Coretta explained in a later interview with The Saratogian. “I never really paid attention to what he was dealing with personally because I knew it wasn't going to be great.”
“When I found out, I was a little surprised. There was a moment where I thought, 'Wow, that's amazing,'” Coretta continued. “It's gotten to the point where he doesn't seem to have to deal with anything, which is also incredible. He's been working hard.”
But when Maroney's teammates returned to campaign in high school, he went back to waiting in the wings. But even after waiting 14 years, it still didn't work out for him.
“My mindset was, if I'm going to do this, I want to be the best at it,” Aidan said. “I thought, 'If I don't do something, I'm not going to catch up with everyone, and I started in high school, so I'm never going to catch up.' It's either you don't play well or you don't. And I wasn't satisfied with not playing well.”
“I was taking this like a longer preseason. So I spent a lot of time in the gym. I spent a lot of time just working on hand-eye coordination. Clifton Park “There's a spot called (Impact Athletic Center) in there that has an open gym, and I was there probably two, three, four hours a day, just getting my own reps,” he said. I continued. “I grew up in an environment where if other people practiced for two or three hours, I would do the same.”
Maroney almost had to recruit himself to earn a position at the next level, and was even willing to go all the way to Italy to do so. That won't be necessary, as it turns out that National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) first-choice Park University in Gilbert, Ariz., has found him and will offer him a spot in this fall's incoming class.
“It's unbelievable that he achieved his goal of going on and playing in college without having (a high school season). I said to the coaches the other day, 'I'm so proud of Aidan. I'm proud of him. We played a small role in the game of volleyball, but it's actually him,” Coletta said. “It's his family, his desire to grow and learn, and some of those things can't be taught. They're essential and he just had that. had the motivation to keep getting it.”
Maroney graduated from Ballston Spa a semester early, allowing him more time to train and lift before entering his first season of school. But volleyball isn't the only thing he's looking forward to most.
“It's hot and I'm really excited to get out of this New York weather,” Maroney said. “We found some good spots to do some good hiking, so we're ready to explore the city a little bit, but that's definitely going to be the best part.
The former Scottie and Slider and his mother have come a long way since their disabled beginnings. There should be no problem with the new regiment.
