Grace Nweke is the latest Mystics star to open up about her battle with Covid, describing it as “hairy”.
“It hit me quite hard, it takes a toll on anyone but as an athlete coming back to train it's just been a bit of a knock. I feel like I’m back to square one and it's a lot of hard work.”
The 20-year-old tested positive in early March and spent the opening weekend of the ANZ Premiership on the sidelines after being cleared from 10 days isolation. She’s only just returning to training and is allowed 60 minutes at a time in the gym, but she has to keep her heartrate below 80 per cent.
Mystics coach Helene Wilson says players returning after Covid are managed carefully with a number of stages before they transition to playing again.
She describes it like getting a warrant of fitness check for their body, adding “it's important we build their heart and lung function back up to what we think is their usual".
Players are medically assessed and their heart monitored during exercise based on guidelines from Netball New Zealand and High Performance Sport NZ.
“The unknowns with Covid and the long Covid piece, we don't want to cause any damage that a few years down the track a player who wants to be an athlete for a length of time, that we stop them from being able to do that, so we are being cautious in that respect,” said Wilson.
Nweke appreciates the cautious approach, admitting the unknown elements of Covid make her nervous.
“We don’t know the effects of rushing back,” the shooter said.
“Definitely less strict if you had an ankle strain, you could just come to training and see how you go but there's definitely a lot of stuff in place to make sure we're all good in terms of Covid.”
At one stage, the Mystics had 15 players across their two squads impacted by Covid or isolation requirements with each player responding differently to their return.
Wilson says that makes the individualised approach crucial, some are ready after a week, others have needed up to five weeks to be back to normal.
Nweke’s next medical assessment is on Wednesday, she’s trying to remain positive that her positive Covid experience won’t keep her off the court for much longer.
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