Leah Middleton: "The NPA have been fantastic"

Leah Middleton has shared more on her rehab journey recently via The Netball Show Podcast and has given her thanks to the Netball Players Association for their support at this time.

"The Netball Players Association sent messages in those initial early stages after the incident, asking if I needed any additional help, support and if they could assist with anything, They have also become my regular weekly "check-in" friends so I hear from them often. I have also had a face-to-face visit from Liz which was lovely. They have been fantastic in supporting not only myself but the other athletes that have unfortunately been injured too."

It was the game against Birmingham Panthers where Leah suffered an injury that currently sees her in rehab as she returns to the court and - for Leah -  there are signs of ongoing positivity.

Leah Middleton - photo credit Ben Lumley

"We have passed the nine week mark at the moment and I feel like it has been big roller coaster of a journey so far. I'm really happy that I'm at the point now where I can share a little bit of the experiences and update a lot of people who've sent me such kind words of love and support more on where I am at."

"I think for anyone who was in the Arena that night, it was obviously a pretty horrific experience. I just remember going down and the first person I saw when I opened my eyes was actually Betsy Creek telling me to breathe. "

"The medical staff did a spectacular job and I was covered and surrounded very, very early. They gave me excellent privacy for myself and for the people that were there, because obviously it's not a very nice thing to see when any athlete gets injured, especially in that sort of manner."

"When I did come around, both Jackie (Newton) and my partner Eric were there. I remember the first thing I said to Jackie was ""Oh, did we win?"" & she said "Leah, the game didn't go on.". So I was probably still in such a state of disbelief of what had happened and the severity of it and how bad it actually was."

Leah explained more about her injury diagnosis

"This injury is a rare one and it's such a freak accident, I remember the A&E doctor saying to me there's a one in a million chance that that could have happened the way it did by dislocating and it being forceful enough to obviously break the skin." 

"When I first came round in A&E the doctors were very straight with me and said you're lucky that you have your foot. The blood flow when I arrived wasn't brilliant and there was quite a bit of urgency at the time to get that ankle back in place and kind of try and stabilize me. There were questions over whether I would walk and questions if I would ever live a normal life again, let alone get back to what I'm doing now and hopefully what I'm going to achieve again, back on the netball court."

"I think whenever you're playing sport, you never think that it will happen to you. and you can't because, you you've got to go out and put your body on the line and give it your all for the team. I guess those first few days in the hospital, I was like, my gosh, I'm a long way from home."

"My family can't get here. it was pretty horrendous. I mean, I called them all hours of the day and my mum Facetimed me and she said "I don't care what time it is I want to know what the surgeons are saying"". I also have adopted at least five rehab mums in my teammates. So, you know, the likes of Jackie and Elle, have not missed a beat. been with me to every single appointment that I've been to and probably know the ins and outs of this injury more than me."

" All things being well, I'll be clear to play back end of this year. So, I will definitely raring to go for that Super League pre-season and also Commonwealth Games which has been in the pipeline for me for the last three years. It's a huge task to be selected for them and I know that I have to put myself in the best physical mental state to be able to compete at a competition like that as it's the pinnacle of our sport alongside the World Cup." 

"I just want to put myself in the absolute best condition possible to be able to compete next season."

Leah has been speaking to a new edition of The Netball Show Podcast which can be found wherever you get your podcasts!

Written by Andy Lamb from the Netball Show