Porter Gook playing for the Chinook High School Coyotes rugby team. (Photo: Jeremy Gook)

By David Opinko

From fractured back to rugby conference competitor: Lethbridge’s Porter Gook

Jul 27, 2022 | 2:41 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A local teen has overcome a major back injury and is gearing up for a high-level tournament in a physical sport.

Jeremy Gook told LNN that his son, Porter, suffered a severe compression fracture in his spine on July 25, 2021, while mountain biking near Kelowna, B.C.

“It got pretty dicey there for a little bit and [Porter] was in the hospital for a few weeks and then had to have a back brace there for just over about three months,” says Jeremy.

Jeremy says it was a difficult time for his son, who was 15 years old at the time of the accident, as it affected both his physical and mental health.

As his recovery progressed, Porter tried out for the rugby team at Chinook High School in west Lethbridge, for his first year in the sport.

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According to his father, Porter was able to take to rugby very quickly as he has the “natural mindset” and instincts needed to excel in the world of sports.

Given the level of physicality involved with rugby, however, Jeremy says it was as difficult for him and his wife to watch their son participate as it must have been Porter himself to play.

“That was pretty dicey for us as parents, especially my wife. It was a little nerve-wracking, but we did know that he was in recovery,” says Jeremy. “Everybody said that he was good to go back to normal, whatever normal might be for a 16-year-old, especially then trying to play rugby and a contact sport, but he grabbed hold of it pretty good and just loving it now.”

After a lengthy tryout process in Red Deer, Rugby Alberta named him as one of 24 participants in the Alberta Under-16 Boys team at the 2022 Western Canadian Rugby Championships.

Taking place between July 29-31, 2022, Porter will return to Kelowna just over one year after his injury.