By Joanna Chadwick
After undergoing surgery for a partially torn meniscus last basketball season, Wichita Heights’ Kamyra Barber went through it mentally.
“The rehab for this was tough because all the stuff I had been doing, I had to relearn how to do,” said Barber, who suffered the injury in practice after the season’s third game in 2023. “I was pretty fast and athletic, and losing that had a tug on me mentally.
“I had to do a lot of praying to keep strong. My dad, Kendrick Barber, and mom, Martina Gonzales, really pushed me and kept me from giving up.”
But one of the toughest parts? Training with her little sister.
“My dad had me training with my 7-year-old sister because I had to go back to the basics, and she was just learning them,” Barber said. “I didn’t like this because mentally, I could do it all, but physically, I couldn’t yet.
On Thursday, Barber will help lead Heights into the first round of the Class 6A tournament at Koch Arena.
“This year Kamyra has come back from that injury and has become one of the key players to this year’s state tournament run,” Heights coach Kip Pulliam said. “I consider Kamyra my Swiss Army knife. She leads us or is in the top two or three in almost all statistical categories, including points, rebounds, assists and steals.”
Barber, who has signed with Hutchinson Community College, is averaging 13.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 3.3 steals.
“Missing last year definitely makes this year different just because last year I had to watch – which was hard because I felt like I could have helped in certain games,” Barber said. “… This year, with being a bigger asset to this team, I feel like I have a lot more to prove.”
It hasn’t been perfectly smooth, though.
Barber said she fractured and dislocated a finger midway through the season.
“It’s been a little tough to play through it, but I’m getting through it,” she said. “Everyone knew when I found out it wasn’t broken, I wasn’t going to get it fixed until after the season.”
Pulliam added: “She is a great team player and will do whatever it takes for the team to win.”
That she would push through isn’t surprising.
It’s just who she is.
“I have always been the type of person to never stop working on something until I have it down pat,” she said. “Whether it be with basketball, school or a game on my phone, that’s just how I am.
“… I feel that I am the type of player that a coach could ask me to do anything, and I will do it or try to at the best of my ability.”
