IN a sport which places huge strains on knees and ankles, and everything in between, it wasn’t surprising when Sutherland Shire’s Vanessa Ware became the first netballer to undergo LARS surgery.
After all, footballers with anterior cruciate ligament tears in their knees had been sourcing the ‘‘quick fix’’ LARS for a few years. With mixed results, too.
Ware had made her debut — 10 years ago — for the (old) yellow Swifts in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy competition.
She was a 17-year-old schoolgirl with De La Salle, Cronulla, who had marvelled at the skills of Australian captain Liz Ellis — then, suddenly, was playing alongside her.
Ware grew up with team-mate and friend, Australian representative Kimberlee Green, since running together as seven year olds at Little Athletics.
But during last season, the sudden impact sport that is netball — the biggest female participant sport in the country — grabbed another casualty when Ware’s ACL gave way .
It was devastating, but there was hope, too, that she wouldn’t be put out of the game for a year like so many others before her.
‘‘I’d heard about LARS with other sports, but it was a bit controversial for a netballer to go that way in surgery,’’ said Ware, at 27, one of the more experienced Swifts around.
‘‘Anyway, I wanted to get back as quickly as possible and the LARS surgery worked for me.’’
A childcare teacher, Ware was bridesmaid for her best friend Kim Green, who married
St George Cricket Club state fast bowler Trent Copeland last year.
Also, Ware played her 50th ANZ Championship match late last season.
This year, Green and Ware are celebrating playing 10 years in netball together.
Ware is looking forward to the season.
‘‘I worked hard on my knee and there’s no pain at all now,’’ she said before the Swifts flew back to New Zealand to play Haier Pulse (last night).
‘‘I’m now looking forward to playing with the Swifts, and, who knows, I might just jag a spot in the Australian squad. Some of the best netballers are 30 years plus, and I’m only 27, so I’m not too old. But I just need to worry about playing well with the Swifts.’’
The Swifts started the 2013 season well, easily beating West Coast, but then copped a 26 goal thrashing in round two against defending champions Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic, which fellow Sutherland Shire head coach Lisa Beehag found hard to cop.
‘‘We’re much better than that and it is our job to improve as the season goes on,’’ Ware said. ‘‘We owe it to our loyal supporters.’’
Ware could not fly to Wellington because of back pain.
