I LOVED writing my Netball World Cup 2019 blog and had some lovely feedback on it, so here I am again! Regular readers will have gathered by now, I can’t keep my mouth shut (or typing fingers still!) so I’ve decided to fill the World Cup void with more thoughts, considerations and probably even more questions, on general netball ‘stuff’!
I hope it’s informative and entertaining! As always, it be from the heart and with netball’s best interests at the forefront!
I speak with some authority (but by no means an expert) on ACL injuries as I am (fingers crossed!) returning to the court this season after nearly three years out after rupturing my right ACL...........obviously playing netball 🙄 For reasons not even the professionals can tell me, after 258 days waiting for the op, a year of rehab, an arthroscopy operation and more rehab, I still don’t have full range of movement and unlikely to do so now.
Before my own unfortunate incident I have coached a fair few players through their own ACL injuries and rehab and I can tell you something for certain. I will coach the next one to succumb to it a damn sight better than previous players’ You see you don’t really know the disappointment, the isolation, the monotonous rehab effort, until you’ve done it yourself. They are the closest adjectives I can use but they really don’t do ‘the ACL feeling’ justice.
How England Rose Beth Cobden is going through it all for the 3rd time is just beyond my comprehension. I take my hat off to her.
I’m writing about ACL injury today as I am a passionate fan of Suncorp Super Netball and this past weekend of fixtures has seen two players’ rupture their ACLs with another suspected. Kelsey Brown of Collingwood Magpies (her sister who also plays for the same team did hers pre season) and Sasha Glasgow, Shooter for Adelaide Thunderbirds are both on the wrong end of scan results. Fellow Thunderbirds shooter Emma Ryde is, at the time of writing, waiting for her results.
I watched the Magpies game live and the despair and sickness I felt when I saw Brown’s
impact is unparalleled. Takes one to know one, I guess.
There are a lot of theories and commentary about the reasons why there are so many ACL injuries to elite Netballers in recent years.
These include:
🏐 workload and tiredness, especially for Suncorp Super Netball players recently returning from
the World Cup.
🏐 women’s menstrual cycles
🏐 hereditary reasons (my sister did both hers when she was younger!)
The above reasons may also offer explanations for non elite Netballers and women from other sports who are victims to this cruel injury.
Just in my netball circle alone I know social Netballers, teenage Netballers, regional Netballers, Walking Netballers and local league Netballers who have succumbed to ACL rupture. One of my fellow coaches recently told me of her 10 year old niece who has also fallen victim. These females are not elite sports women and unfortunately I know first hand how this injury effects everyday life.
As much as I am devastated for Kelsey Brown and her elite netball colleagues I am also envious of them. After all if an ACL is going to happen anyway i’d like my operation to take place as soon as possible (did I mention 258 days wait!?!) with the best access to medical care including physios, facilities and equipment, would be how to do it!
Having said that, New Zealand Netballer Cat Tuiviti tore her ACL playing for Adelaide Thunderbirds, a few months after me. Her tweets and Instagram posts during her rehab really helped motivate me when I was suffering set backs galore!
It’s fairly evident, to me & scores of social media netball enthusiasts, that ACL injuries need more specific research. Any relevant research out there, conducted, analysed and written is exclusively completed on male athletes. So not really relevant at all then!
Pre World Cup, out going England Netball CEO Joanna Adams was interviewed by Sky Sports and asked about Beth Cobden’s injury. She commented that ACL injuries in netball definitively need research and her thoughts were that ‘we should be leading the way’. Let’s hope that work is already being undertaken and the new CEO sees it just as much a priority.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/netball/news/12040/11741317/england-netballs-ceo-joanna-adams-keen-to-address-acl-injury-trend
Netball Australia put some money and resource into ‘the knee programme’ a few years back and I was lucky enough to see Australia Diamonds Lisa Alexander demonstrate the warm up, helping to prevent ACL rupture, at a coaching workshop in Winchester.
https://knee.netball.com.au/
I regularly go through this with my Jelly Tots Netball players who range from 4-7 years old. I figure the earlier we can instil these exercises in them, the more disciplined at doing them they become and with any luck, it will reduce the risk of these youngsters rupturing ACLs in the future.
Until more research is completed and results shared, it is the only thing we can do!
