The GIANTS have been back training for four weeks now as they prepare for the much-anticipated return of netball in the first weekend of August.
If the season had have gone ahead as originally planned, GIANTS goal shooter Caitlin Bassett may have been in doubt given the MCL injury she suffered during a pre-season match against West Coast Fever in March.
But GIANTS Netball Head Physiotherapist Gemma Vale said Bassett’s rehab is coming along nicely.
“It’s been three months since she injured her MCL in the pre-season match in Kalgoorlie and it has been a pretty smooth transition back into training,” Vale said.
“She spent just on six weeks in the brace and given the current circumstances, has been lucky enough to have a lot of time to work on her strength and rehab.
“She has had no hiccups in her progress and has been completing full training and match play the last few weeks.
“She has been putting in a lot of maintenance and resilience work to keep the knee strong and ready for round one.”
A player would normally check in four to five times a week with Vale at the club when in rehab from an injury. With COVID-19 restrictions in place, Bassett’s rehab was certainly a different experience.
“Rehab in isolation was interesting from her perspective and mine,” said Vale.
“We only met a handful of times for check ins, brace changes and rehab progressions. As well as lots of phone and video calls and emails.
“The isolation period did give her an opportunity to focus on the job at hand without the stress and pressure of getting back for the original season.”
Vale said the rest of the squad is tracking well.
“The first two weeks back were a bit of a shock to the system, but everyone is happy to be back together and training hard,” said Vale.
“The team has really impressed us with how well they have taken the situation in their stride regarding continuing training loads away from our regular training environment.”
“This has really benefited our successful return to court training without too many issues.
“Of course there are some sore bodies and little niggles but as a medical team we closely monitor training loads and how the players respond to being back on court and in the gym.”
At this stage, the only details that have been released around the fixture is that round one will be held on the weekend of August 1. A fixture is set to be announced by Suncorp Super Netball in the coming weeks.
