Crushing end to career for Scheres   29 Jun 2016

Crushing end to career for Scheres

A serious knee injury has brought an abrupt end to the top flight netball career of hard working and humble Pulse midcourter Elias Scheres.

Having already decided that 2016 was going to be her last campaign at the elite level, Scheres had a fleeting change of mind after sustaining significant damage to her right knee while playing against the Mainland Tactix on June 20.

However, Scheres will begin the process of repairing a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), tears to both meniscus (cartilage that cushions the knee joint), as well as damage to the medial collateral and lateral collateral ligaments and patella tendon before she and husband Joseph stick to the original plan of returning to their Waikato hometown of Putaruru, in December.

Scheres became the third Pulse player this season, behind Whitney Souness and Jodi Brown, to be felled by the ACL curse.

``It took until the fifth or sixth doctor to tell me that it (knee) was gone before it really hit home,’’ Scheres said. ``I was pretty hopeful when I did it because I could weight-bear and I could walk around.

``This was going to be my last season playing ANZ, so it’s not a season-ending injury, it’s more of a career-ending injury.

``I would have loved to play the last two games (West Coast Fever last weekend and Melbourne Vixens, July 4) and finished the season off properly with the Pulse girls. That is probably the hardest bit to take at the moment.’’

With family coming to Wellington for the Pulse’s last match of the regular season, Scheres had been looking forward to one last on-court hurrah after fashioning an impressive resume with the Pulse and Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic.

But for the still relatively young Scheres, who will turn 26 on July 2, there will be no change of heart and certainly no regrets.

``I’ve been part of this competition for seven years, I’ve been doing it since I was 18 and at this stage there are other things in my life that outweigh playing netball,’’ she said.

``Next year I want to go back and finish my teaching diploma at Waikato University. It’s always been a passion and a goal for me to become a teacher and I think all things happen for a reason.

``We were always eventually going to go back home and the trips we’ve made back have made us realise how much we missed family and friends. Netball at this level is all-consuming and there are just other things that we want to do.

``There comes a time when everyone reaches these points. This competition has given me so much and I’m so thankful to have been a part of it, I just think my time’s up.’’

A talented wing defence, Scheres’ career took off in 2012 when part of the Magic team who created a slice of history by becoming the only New Zealand team to win the trans-Tasman title, in the process earning herself a Silver Ferns trial where she just missed the final cut.

Determined, dogged, reliable and with the ability to come up with a big play at the right time, Scheres has turned into an equally effective centre since she joined the Pulse in 2014.

``I’ve won an ANZ Championship and I’ve played with and against some amazing players, so I just feel blessed to have experienced it all and apart from this injury, I don’t have any complaints,’’ she said

``My goal, growing up, was always to be a Silver Fern. I got a foot in the door with a couple of trials and didn’t quite make it but I still feel blessed with the opportunities that I was given, the friendships I’ve made and the places I’ve been. I couldn’t be happier with what I’ve achieved.’’

Scheres is working hard to get the required movement back in her knee before she can have surgery.

ENDS

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