Amanda Umanski: Wangaratta netballer details her long road back from ACL injury

One of the Ovens and Murray's finest talents missed the entire 2022 season after suffering major knee damage playing a one-off game in Melbourne.

Umanski has returned to the court with Wangaratta this year but her journey is far from over.

The 25-year-old shooter explained how the notion of simply flicking a switch and picking up where she left off pre-injury was a long way from reality.

"I learnt a lot from being off the court," Umanski reflected.

"It's only been a year-and-a-bit but it feels like a lifetime now that I've gone through it all.

"It happened last year on March 1, I went to play a fill-in game with one of my coaches from Melbourne but I just wasn't feeling right.

"I didn't have the best warm-up, I didn't think much of it but a couple of minutes in, my knee gave way.

"I thought I'd dislocated it but I looked down and it was in place.

"I tried to get up but it just seized up and I couldn't move.

"I had scans and they told me I'd done my ACL, which was a kick in the guts.

"Before doing my knee, you always hear of people doing it and you think it's a terrible thing, you don't wish that upon anyone, but when you go through it yourself it's a whole different ball game.

"My heart goes out to people who have done their knees or are going through that process now because it's such a big mental game.

"It's something you're not prepared for until you actually go through it."

It was nearly three months before Umanski was operated on.

"I was still trying to figure out what it was and find a surgeon," she explained.

"So I was at netball and even though I felt fine, I knew there was no ACL there but I thought I could still get out there and do things.

"That was a hard space to be in because I had a few people say 'just tape it up and get out there' and you think 'maybe I should.'

"It was a funny phase, waiting around until surgery comes and you're unsure what's going to happen after surgery.

"I tried talking to people, finding out what it was going to be like but it's one of those things you don't know until it happens.

"Everyone's process is completely different, everyone has a different story or a different outcome so you just don't know until you go through it yourself."

Rehabilitation was about to test Umanski in ways she'd never experienced.

"You have the surgery and you think 'OK, now things are going to start getting back on track,'" she said.

"Physically, ticking the boxes and making sure you get things done is the easy part.

"It's more so the mental game of trying to keep your head strong.

"If you have setbacks, it's trying not to get down on it too much and just back yourself and understand that you are getting somewhere, but that it's just going to take time.

"That's one of the biggest things, mentally.

"You feel like you've haven't got anywhere but really you've ticked off a major part of the process, which is a really hard thing to understand and accept when you're going through that, especially when you look around at other people or have heard other people's stories and how they've gone through the process.

"It could be completely different to what you've gone through so it's also trying to find what's going to your process."

For a while, the target was Umanski's return to A-grade netball but as time went on, she realised that wasn't the end goal.

"It's pretty hard because there's been different moments when it's been a real challenge and even still now, being back and playing, I still, mentally, am struggling a bit trying to find my groove with my game style.

"Even though I'm back playing, which is great, and I feel like I'm moving fine, it's still something that because I've had a whole year off, it's something that takes a while to get back into.

"I do have trust in my knee; I'm pretty lucky in that sense.

"Since coming back, I've told myself I want to be training 100 percent or playing 100 percent because if I'm not, I obviously don't trust my knee.

"Throughout the whole process, I've kept telling myself 'once I do finally get to those stages, I want to be doing everything 100 percent.'

"You're not ready if you don't have trust with it.

"It's more trying to put all of these things together again.

"After the surgery, you have to learn how to run again, you have to learn how to get strength back and now the final touch is learning how to play the actual game.

"I didn't really think about these things once I finally got back playing.

"I thought 'that's all you need to get to' but even now, there's still so many processes and things that I've still got to get done.

"I've still got to go to the gym constantly and make sure my body stays strong.

"It doesn't end as soon as you get back to netball.

"There's still lots of things to tick off to continue to make sure I don't have a risk of doing the injury again."

Umanski's long lay-off gave her plenty of time to appreciate one of her great loves.

"People don't realise how important sport is," Umanski said.

"If you have it in your life, you don't realise how important it is to keep that going and when it's taken away from you, you lose a sense of yourself.

"Sport isn't everything but it's a big part of my identity.

"When that goes away and you can't do those things any more, it takes another toll on you, mentally.

"Through the stages when I was feeling a bit down, feeling like I might not have done any of my rehab that week or I didn't get to the gym, there was moments when I'd be down on myself about it but then I realised it was probably a good thing to be listening to my body.

"I can't hold myself accountable for those times because there are going to be days when things don't work or things don't happen and you've just got to focus on the next point.

"There's no point sitting there dwelling on what's been and done because that's what's happened and you've just got to focus on the next part and what you can do from here on in.

"Some weeks I just didn't go to the gym for the full week and I would speak to my physio and be like 'I'm so sorry, I didn't get there this week, it was a bad week mentally, I couldn't bring myself to get there because I was feeling a bit down being at home and not being able to play' and he was like 'that's OK, it doesn't matter, we'll just get on with the next one and keep on keeping on."

Wangaratta's ability to rotate a squad of serious depth is working to Umanski's advantage as she edges back to something approaching her best.

"We've got some beautiful players coming through," she said.

"We've got Georgia Clark, Amy Byrne and Kellie Keen.

"Kellie with her smarts, Georgia's come through and had to fill my shoes last year and she's done an excellent job and Amy brings great speed through that attacking end.

"We are still trying to build those connections as well.

"I've only played with Kellie and that was in 2019, and a couple of practice matches with Georgia.

"We're still figuring out how each other work and what we've got to do.

"I'm very grateful to the Magpies and North East Blaze (in the VNL) for sticking by me throughout this process, to keep me around and keep me involved.

"I cannot thank them enough for keeping me around in those tough times and for dealing with me on the sidelines.

"Everyone's been so completely patient with me, getting back to my better netball which I'm still yet to play.

"Everyone's accepting me and my processes and my mental game as well.

"Even though I'm back playing, which is great, it's still hard to find that balance of a sense of trust and being comfortable to put things into action, getting all the final pieces in place."

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