SILVER FERN SHOOTER AMELIA 'DAD'S ALWAYS GOT MY BACK!

Former Black Cap Kerry is in awe of his resilient daughter

- Suzanne McFadden

Silver Ferns shooting star Amelia Walmsley has always known her dad Kerry would be there when it mattered. But on the eve of last season's ANZ Premiership grand final with her body battered and the pressure mounting, it was the steadying voice of the former Black Caps fast bowler she needed more than ever.

Amelia had painfully dislocated both of her shoulders during the Central Pulse's elimination final victory - one slipping forward, the other backward - casting serious doubt over whether the talented young goal shoot would take the court for the season's finale against the Northern Mystics the following weekend.

When specialists delivered the crushing news that she might need double shoulder reconstruction, sidelining her from netball for the rest of the year, the then-20-year-old was devastated.

"It was just awful," recalls Amelia. "I called my dad crying after I got my MRI results and he was just like, 'Take a deep breath.' He said, 'There are so many ifs, buts and maybes, so there's no point getting upset over something that isn't confirmed yet.'

"He was so settling in that moment and he was right. He's almost finished a degree in counselling, so he's very good now at listening and asking me, 'So how does that make you feel?' and all that kind of stuff!"

Amelia had already missed seven weeks of the ANZ Premiership season after slipping on court and injuring her knee - the first major injury of her career - but her speedy recovery would help with her next setback.

"It was touch and go that I'd need the double shoulder reconstruction," she recalls. "But then the surgeons were very confident that the way I'd rehabbed my knee meant I could rehab well and be OK."