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Matt McKinney will no longer compete on the basketball and volleyball teams.

UCLA dual-sport athlete Matt McKinney has declared medical retirement from UCLA, citing numerous injuries and illnesses over the last three years.

McKinney, an outside hitter on the volleyball team and a power forward on the basketball team, will stay in school and is set to finish his degree in Spring 2006, but his scholarship will not count against the allotted 13 that men’s basketball receives.

“It’s very disappointing,” UCLA men’s volleyball coach Al Scates said. “He wanted to contribute so badly, but he never had the chance.”

In the end, the announcement of his retirement was just the latest addition to the list of disappointments that McKinney has had to face since arriving at UCLA. After arriving at UCLA as a top recruit out of Santa Ynez, McKinney redshirted his freshman year of basketball and played only sparingly in volleyball.

It was in his second year when the real problems started. In late October, McKinney fractured a bone in his left foot and was forced to miss the entire basketball and volleyball seasons.

“The injury was extremely frustrating for him,” Lee Ann McKinney, Matt’s mother said. “He had worked so hard after his freshman year to contend for a starting spot.”

McKinney, who appeared in 26 games this past season, discovered midway through the year that he had an internal stomach illness and that the medicine he was using was tampering with his breathing and stamina. McKinney later recovered from the illness and appeared in seven matches for the Bruins’ volleyball team, but he severely hurt his shoulder in the MPSF postseason match against Cal State Northridge.

It was after the injury that McKinney decided that his athletic career was over, and that he wanted to focus on academics. “It’s been a very tough year for me going through so many different medical problems and having to fight through them,” McKinney said.