Through Trial, Tribulation, Eric Katenda Perseveres

Harry · August 16, 2015

Junior forward Eric Katenda’s on-court performance for the Notre Dame men’s basketball team may not be remembered when one looks back on the 2014-15 season, but arguably no player’s contribution has been more impressive, considering where Katenda was three years ago.

Katenda was born in Paris, France and moved to the United States after his freshman year of high school. Ranked as the twenty-seventh best power forward in the 2011 recruiting class by ESPN, Katenda committed to play for Notre Dame in April 2011. He was described as “an undeniable talent with great size, length, athleticism and skills for a player his size.”

But in the summer of 2011, everything changed for Katenda. While playing pickup basketball in Washington, D.C. near where he was taking summer classes, Katenda’s optic nerve was damaged by another player’s finger when the two were going after a rebound. The freak eye injury left Katenda permanently blind in his left eye.

The injury caused Katenda to miss the fall semester of his freshman year, and put his basketball career in doubt. Head Coach Mike Brey, who promised to honor Katenda’s scholarship regardless of his playing status, expressed this worry to the Chicago Tribune when the injury occurred.

“[Katenda] understands that playing basketball at the Big East level may never be part of the equation again … I think he’s really come to grips with understanding that getting an education is now very, very important. He’s very realistic about it.”

Katenda never experienced this doubt, however.

“I’m going to be at Notre Dame, and I’m going to play again,” Katenda told the South Bend Tribune in 2011. “I’m going to play again. I have no doubts. I’m not worrying about anything.”

Read more: http://scholastic.nd.edu/issues/55652-through-trial-tribulation-eric-katenda-perseveres/