Chang ready to test wrist

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Tim Chang will begin practice with the Warriors on Aug. 10. Advertiser library photo

Chang tore a ligament in his right throwing wrist in a Sept. 29 game against Rice last season. He hurt the wrist trying to brace himself for a fall after being hit.

"It's going to be a reaction," Chang said yesterday. "It's got to be something where you just do it. I don't think it will take away from any part of my game. I still need to do things that got me there, putting it on the line and trying to do things nobody else can do. I'll continue to do those things to win games."

Chang missed the remaining nine games of UH's 9-3 season. He was granted a medical hardship, so he will enter this season as a redshirt sophomore.

He had surgery on Jan. 3 and did his rehabilitation with Pat Ariki of Sportsmedicine Hawaii. Chang had known of Ariki, who has rehabilitated players from St. Louis School, where Chang was an all-state quarterback. But Chang said he never worked with Ariki before because he had never been injured in high school.

While Ariki's rehab program dealt primarily with getting the range of motion back to Chang's wrist, he helped the quarterback in another area.

"He helped me more mentally," Chang said.

Chang wasn't cleared to throw until May 1, which was after spring drills, so he is anxiously awaiting the Warriors' first workout on Aug. 10.

"I haven't been in a game situation close to 10 months," Chang said. "When you're in that atmosphere, with that adrenaline going, it's a whole different game, rather than just throwing to receivers (at practice) daily. I'll see where I'm at (when we start practice). I'll test myself to see where I'm at."

Although he is done with formal rehabilitation with Ariki, Chang said he still does exercises to strengthen his wrist, such as squeezing rice or sand. Even though Chang said he is physically capable of doing what he had before, he won't really know until workouts begin.

"I'd like to think of it as stronger, but we'll see," Chang said of his wrist. "I feel really well. I don't want to say too much and get myself in trouble."

Chang admitted that the injury ordeal caught up with him. He said he didn't do as well in the classroom because of so many things going through his mind.

"Mentally, I was in shock," he said. "It was my first injury and I didn't know how to handle it."

But what Chang didn't do was shut himself off. He said he learned from his successor, Nick Rolovich, about adversity. It was the JC transfer Rolovich who beat out Chang for starting quarterback for the start of the 2000 season, only to lose it to the incoming freshman. But with the injury to Chang, roles were reversed.

"Not too many people thought highly of Nick," Chang said. "But when he got his second chance, he made the most of it. He proved he was good. Nick was a gamer. That's what I want to do here."