WOODSTOCK — Tom Bissaillon’s return to normalcy came when Justin Devoid offered him a roster spot on his summer baseball team. The rising Woodstock High senior has been going at full speed ever since.
Bissaillon severely damaged his right knee last September playing soccer for the Wasps; a year’s recovery time was anticipated.
However, between hard work and dedication to his rehabilitation, Bissaillon received a clean bill of health after just nine months, at the outset of June. A promising high school athletic career appears to be back on track.
It couldn’t come at a more ideal time for the 17-year-old Bissaillon, who also — with the loss of almost his entire junior campaign — missed the time when most college coaches identify recruitable talent.
“From the beginning, you could tell he’s a good kid from a good family,” said Devoid, the White River Junction Junior Nighthawks coach, who has Bissaillon playing third base and left field for his Vermont Summer Baseball League team. “You could tell right off he’s someone you cared to have in a locker room. He’s a good player, works his butt off. One of my favorite things about him is he will run through a brick wall for you. He gives his best every day; you don’t need to ask.”
Bissaillon’s Woodstock coaches echo the refrain.
“He’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever coached,” Wasps boys hockey coach Jon Chamberlin said. “He doesn’t have a stop button.”
But, last fall, his right knee did.
In a phone conversation, Bissaillon said the play in which he got hurt was nothing odd. In a 1-0 home loss to Hartford on Sept. 21, Bissaillon leaped to block a potential cross only to have his mark misfire on the attempt. Bissaillon tried to push off toward the ball upon landing, but he tore one knee ligament fully and two others partially in the process.
“Yeah, I was surprised; the surgeon was surprised, due to the scale of my injury,” recalled Bissaillon, a Sharon resident who transferred to Woodstock after his freshman year at The Sharon Academy. “An ACL recovery is anywhere from 6-12 months before you can return to sports. Tearing the meniscus on top of that adds three months.”
His father Mike’s job as an equipment manager for Dartmouth College athletics led to consultations with Charlie Carr, the Big Green football program’s team doctor, which helped set a course for surgery and rehabilitation.
The injury cost Bissaillon the back half of soccer season and the whole of ice hockey; he wouldn’t have been able to play baseball at Woodstock this spring even if it hadn’t been canceled by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I felt really bad because I knew a lot of people, especially kids in the grade above me, who were looking forward to (spring),” Bissaillon said. “It felt bad knowing what it meant to miss a season and not be able to play. I felt their pain, and that added a different way to view the situation.”
Devoid has Bissaillon serving as a backup for two positions on the diamond with the Junior Nighthawks. He’ll play third base on days when Robbie Slocum pitches, which necessitates regular third baseman Kyle Hamilton to move to first base. Bissaillon is also taking occasional turns in left field, behind Cam Tucker and Nate O’Donnell.
Given his regular job as Hartford High’s athletic trainer, Devoid can appreciate what has been required to get Bissaillon back on any field.
“Basically, what I try to do is keep asking him how he’s doing and feeling, how certain drills affect him, if they are, and seeing his movement,” Devoid said. “From day one, he was clearly ready.”
Bissaillon has made that obvious. He’s joined a group of fellow Wasps in a Hooksett, N.H.-based summer hockey league. He’s taken part in Woodstock boys soccer coach Tom Avellino’s offseason workouts. He’s even played golf — when he’s not working a couple of summer jobs.
Any of those sports could be in Bissaillon’s college future, if coaches are willing to do catch-up recruiting work on someone who lost nearly an entire school year to injury.
“I don’t know what his ambitions are,” Avellino said, “but he’s a bright kid.”
Greg Fennell can be reached at gfennell@vnews.com or 603-727-3226.