ELLINGTON – Andrew Flickenschild broke his hand in sixth grade when it was hit by a baseball during a game.
In eighth grade, he sprained both of his wrists playing basketball. He took a charge and landed on his wrists. He also broke his hand when he hit a punching bag at his friend’s house.
“Ninth grade … what did I do in ninth grade…” he said Monday. “There’s always something.”
Flickenschild, a senior forward on the Ellington undefeated boys basketball team, remembered – all the injuries kind of run together – he had a strained back that year. He missed three weeks of basketball for his left side, then his right side went and that was three more weeks.
Despite that, he made varsity at the end of that season, and his sophomore year, the Knights went to the Division IV state championship. But Flickenschild was cheering from the student section at Mohegan Sun. He broke his left foot in the fall playing basketball two weeks before tryouts. Five days after he was cleared to play, he landed on someone’s foot in practice and broke his right ankle.
But last season was the worst, and it had nothing to do with injuries, even though he did sit out with a concussion and sprained his ankle. The last week in February last year, his father Stephen died at age 52. He had a liver transplant in November 2023, but he was still sick and never really recovered.
Flickenschild played in Ellington’s last game of the season, a 66-60 overtime loss to Cheney Tech in the Div. IV quarterfinal, then drove to New York for his father’s funeral the next day. His coaches were there, too.
“He never gave up,” Ellington coach Bob Freitas said. “Every time, he came back. He could have walked away a long time ago.
“He’s been through a lot. He keeps chugging away. He’s a good student, a good teammate. He’s a good kid. He’s going to do well for himself in life.”
Ellington is 23-0, seeded first in the Div. IV tournament. The Knights will play No. 16 seed Bridgeport Central Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in a second-round game at Ellington High.
Flickenschild’s role has changed on the team over four years. He used to be a slasher, driving to the hoop, but when he broke his foot and his ankle his sophomore year, he went into the gym to try to get stronger after rehabilitation and turned into more of a center, boxing out, rebounding, setting screens.
He averages 10 rebounds a game and four assists. He averages six points but doesn’t need to score; Ellington has sophomore Jack Curtis, who had 18 points in the NCCC tournament championship win over SMSA and was named MVP, and other younger players who can score.
Flickenschild is a role player and he’s OK with that. After he had 15 rebounds in the NCCC championship game and 10 in the semifinal, he was shocked when his name was called for the all-tournament team.
“He asked me, ‘Coach, are you sure?’” Freitas said. “I said, ‘What do you mean, am I sure? This is not just me saying it. There’s more than just scoring in games.’
“He can score. He’s a great passer, he knows how to create for others. He just loves his role. If he needs to shoot, he can shoot. He’s a great fit for what this young group needed.”
The one difference that Flickenschild has noticed this year: his teammates don’t miss that much.
“In past years, I used to be able to grab the rebound and put it back in,” he said. “This year, I’m waiting – ‘All right, offensive rebound, put it back in …’ Now it’s swish. Swish. Swish.”
Basketball also kept him grounded when his father died.
“I went to practice so I had something (to do),” he said. “Both basketball and the gym are what I escape to. I got the news, and the next morning I went to the gym. Four days later, I went to basketball. It kept my mind off it.”
Flickenschild was OK over the summer. No injuries. Then he called Freitas and asked if he would mind if he played football.
Freitas stayed calm (although he was probably thinking lots of things, such as maybe would Flickenschild be wearing bubble wrap when he played), but he didn’t say anything like that to him.
“I said, ‘Whatever decision you make, I’ll back you up,’” Freitas said. “You’re only going to have four years of high school. This is about you and your high school experience.’”
Flickenschild played offensive and defensive line. He loved it. The only thing that happened to him was a broken thumb.
“Yeah,” Freitas said, “it could have been worse with him. Nothing surprises me anymore.”
So knock on wood (but not too hard, no more injuries): Flickenschild has made it through the season with only a strained wrist (but he kept playing).
He has a 3.9 GPA. He wants to go to college and medical school and become a sports medicine physician. But first, he would like to help his team make it to that championship game he missed two years ago.
“Look at this kid who has gone through all that and he has continued to come back and fight and want to be part of something,” Freitas said. “That’s hard to do. Others might have walked away and said, ‘This is not for me,’ but I think sports helped him out.”