The opening basketball practice this season failed to put Jack Leininger’s mind at ease.
That didn’t happen after the season opening game, a 74-44 win over la Costa Canyon, either.
“It probably took three games or so for me to stop worrying about the injury,” said the Del Norte High senior point guard. “Now I don’t even think about it.’”
Leininger tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow in the final game of the 2021 season.
In a playoff game against La Jolla Country Day in the postseason, Leininger dove for a loose ball and landed on his left elbow.
He wore a brace on the elbow for a month before undergoing surgery. That started an eight-month program of twice-a-week physical therapy sessions.
“Drying my hair and combing my hair was an adventure,” Leininger said.
Along the way during his rehabilitation, the 5-foot-8 Leininger embraced marathon training.
“I like running anyway as a basketball player,” he said. “I’ve kind of fallen out of it since the season started.”
With Leininger running the show, the Nighthawks began this season with an 8-5 overall record after a 67-65 win over No. 5-ranked Montgomery on Dec. 15 and wins over La Costa Canyon, El Camino and Scrips Ranch.
“I wish I had him for another year,” lamented first-year Del Norte coach Chris Johnson. “It’s never about him. It’s all about the team.
“He was constantly texting me every day to open the gym a little bit early every day so he could get in some work.”
Johnson came to Del Norte from rival Rancho Bernardo, where he coached the Broncos’ junior varsity.
“Coach built a system around us,” Leininger said. “He figured out what we had and went from there.
“We’ve thrown a few jabs at him about coming from RB.”
Leininger began playing basketball in second grade.
Born in La Jolla, he kept playing football until sixth grade when he dropped it to become a full-time basketball player.
“I liked running the team from the point,” he said. “I control the tempo of the game and it is really rewarding to see a teammate succeed because it means we’re all succeeding.
“I like being engaged in the game as a point guard. I consider myself maybe a Steve Nash point guard, a guy who dishes the ball for open shots but is not afraid to score when he has to.”
Del Norte was 20-9 overall and 6-4 in league play last season under coach Bob Spahn, who retired at the conclusion of the season.
The elbow injury and a new coach is not, in Leininger’s mind, a reason to slack off on the court.
“Our commitment is to win the Avo title,” he said. “We haven’t won a league title since about 2009 or so.
“We’d love to hang a CIF banner in the gym because the Del Norte girls won’t let us forget that they won a CIF title last year.”
Leininger has just recently started looking for a college to keep playing basketball. He’d like to major in political science and eventually head off to law school.
Right now, posting a winning senior season at Del Norte is his primary goal.
Though he’s managed to send out some college applications in hopes of finding a new experience outside of 4S Ranch, Georgetown is his top choice.
The funniest thing in his career came on a play where he was trying to save the ball from going out of bounds.
It’s a play every player has done — catch the ball and throw it off the nearest defender to regain possession after the ball goes out of bounds.
This time, Leininger was surprised.
“I tried to throw the ball off the guy’s leg, but it hit his foot and then hit me in the face,” Leininger said. “We all laughed about it.”
But he had to watch game film to see how that could even happen.
