‘He’s such a good person.’ Back from injury, it’s easy to root for Golden Valley star
A dislocated shoulder sidelined Golden Valley senior Avery Townsel for the final five weeks of the football season. The injury also forced him to miss the Cougars first basketball games.
For a three-sport athlete like Townsel, sitting on the sideline was tough to stomach. He’s an athlete always on the go with football in the fall, basketball in the winter and track in the spring.
“In the beginning when I found out I was going to be out, I cried,” Townsel said. “I had to, just being out. I always have something to do and then I go to having nothing to do.”
So when it came time to revisit the doctor in December, Townsel was nervous. He couldn’t stand missing any more games.
“Going to the doctor, my palms were sweating,” he said. “My forehead was sweating. I felt like I had been in a pool. When he told me I was good to go, I gave him a hug. I was happy.”
How much does Townsel mean to Golden Valley?
Golden Valley football coach Rick Martinez and Cougars basketball coach Keith Hunter will tell you.
The Cougars football team was 3-3 with Townsel on the field. They went 1-4 without him.
The basketball team started out 2-4 without him and are 8-1 with Townsel in the lineup. After Friday’s 68-45 win over El Capitan, the Cougars are 10-5 overall and 1-0 in the Central California Conference.
“First and foremost, he’s a young man with tremendous character,” said Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter. “He brings leadership and accountability to the team. He can be hard on the other players. He’s a good, vocal leader. Secondly, he’s a great athlete.
“He brings great joy and he’s tough. I think he’s going to be president of the United States some day. He’s that great of a leader.”
Townsel says his leadership qualities comes from being the oldest of five kids in his family.
“I had to grow up fast,” he said. “I have to show my siblings what it’s like in this world and how to stay positive.”
Golden Valley track coach Jacqueline Wooding sees those same special traits in Townsel.
“Avery is going to do whatever he can possibly do to make sure he’s going to help the team,” Wooding said. “He’s going to put himself out there and he’s going to be ready to carry the load.”
With Townsel juggling workouts for football, basketball and track this past summer, Wooding said among all of Townsel’s coaches, she probably saw him the least. She said he showed up at about 70 percent of the track workouts.
“Even though he only showed up to 70 percent of my workouts, that’s probably more than most of my kids who only do track,” Wooding said. “Avery is a kid you don’t get every year. You might get a kid like him every 10 years.”
Townsel made an instant impact on the court for the Cougars after returning from the shoulder injury.
In nine games, Townsel has done a little bit of everything for the Cougars. He averages 12.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
His best game came against Beyer in his second game back when he scored 16 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and came away with six steals in a 61-56 win.
Townsel isn’t just a three-sport athlete. He excels in all three sports. He was a second-team all-Central California Conference selection at defensive back and returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.
He qualified for the state meet in the triple jump last season.
“At the end of the season, Avery had an issue with getting on the board (with his jumps),” Golden Valley track coach Jacqueline Wooding said. “His steps were all over the place. At Masters, where he qualified for state, I just reminded him to take a deep breath and have some fun.
“He looked at me and said, ‘We’ll have fun when I make it state. I have one jump left so I guess we should have fun now.’ That last jump is when he qualified for state.”
Wooding says it’s easy to root for a kid like Townsel.
“He’s such a good person. He’s just a good kid,”Wooding said. “(Her husband) John and I talk about the qualities we see with Avery, we hope to see in our own kids. He’s just so special.”
