A torn right calf muscle has sidelined Sharks power forward Karol Kott for the past seven games, robbing the team of one of its top three point shooters.
Kott, who made 14 out of 40 of his three point shots this year, originally sustained the injury on Dec. 16 in a game versus Hillsborough Community College. The sophomore, who transferred to Miami Dade College from Richard Bland College in Petersburg, Virginia this year, played in the team’s following game versus State College of Florida before further aggravating the injury.
“It wasn’t as bad at first and then he played the next game, the last game of the year before the break, then he went to Poland and while he was in Poland it got really bad,” said Nathan Laurel, an athletic trainer at MDC.
It is unclear how much time Kott will miss due to the injury but Sharks head men’s basketball coach Kevin Ledoux said he is a key cog that will be missed.
“He’s a big part of what we do,” Ledoux said. “We shoot threes and he’s a very good three point shooter. Without him being able to play, it kind of hurts the rotation because we need all 13 players the way we play. He’s a very good shooter and helps spread the floor.”
The 6-foot-5 inch power forward traces his love for the sport all the way back to his childhood in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It’s there that he started playing the game with friends in elementary school.
“When I finally started to play basketball, me and some of my friends, every night we’d go out to play basketball to the park, a few hours every day, especially weekends,” Kott said.
For the majority of his life in Poland, Kott lived in the countryside, about 15 miles outside of Warsaw and grew up around the same group of people. He was extremely close with his family, and that support system helped him become the player and person he is today.
“My dad used to practice with me like my personal coach,” Kott said. “He’d go every weekend with me to do stuff to the gym. He’d give me advice before games and train me.”
The advice served Kott well. He became a member of the Wide Polish National Team.
Kott moved to the United States when he was 18 years old to attend Richard Bland College last year before making the move to MDC. He said his biggest challenge was moving halfway across the world to an entirely different country with entirely different customs.
“It was really depressing for me, leaving all my family and friends, but at the same time I was very happy,” Kott said. “It was a new opportunity for me.”
The Sharks’ next game is on the road against ASA College in Miami Shores on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.
