A return to the Swindon Town first-team squad has been a long time coming for defender Katie Sherwood.
She’s spent the best part of a year on the sidelines after suffering a meniscus tear in training.
“It was just a fun little game, really,” she tells SheKicks.net, “and it’s probably my fault as a defender shooting, but I was taking a shot on the goal, and I just got blocked.
“It was purely just impact with the ball and the player and ended in me having a nasty tear of my meniscus.”
She goes on: “It was an instant feeling. Normally, I do just jump back up, but as soon as I tried standing up before – no, it’s not a good one.”
Katie Sherwood: You build up mental resilience
It was the same knee in which she tore her anterior cruciate ligament as a 16-year-old, six years ago, and that experience, she thinks, helped her through this lay-off – though she says this one was more painful and due to not being able to walk she was more reliant on others.
“You build up a bit of a mental resilience when things like this happen. You’ve got the light at the end of the tunnel, really. You’ve got to know that things are going to get better, and it’s just going to take time.
“I think I was quite lucky this time around in the sense of the turnaround from getting a scan to an operation and then coming back. That way, it’s been really good.
“And just working with the club after coming back, it was quite good timing, really, because as I could start running again, pre-season was starting. It fell in nicely there – I wasn’t having to do loads of it on my own! I was still going into training all the time, seeing the girls, seeing the coaches, so it really helped.”
“Swindon have a real togetherness”
Swindon Town have enjoyed a spectacular start to the season in FAWNL Division One South-West, having won all six of their matches so far. They currently train twice a week, plus matchdays at the weekend.
“There’s just a real togetherness in the team this year,” says Sherwood. “As a group, we’ve really bonded, and I think that helps on and off the pitch. We all stick together even if the game gets tough.
“Everyone’s getting behind each other and just encouraging. That’s really helped this year.”
And she’s building up to full match fitness – starting with a half-hour stint as a substitute: “just part of the process,” she says, but she admits she isn’t always a good spectator.
“It depends how the game’s going! It can be hard at times to watch, but having been through an injury before as well, you do kind of get used to it a little bit.
“It’s kind of weird sitting in the stand to then sitting on the bench and watching; it’s almost like you’re a bit of a step closer.”
Katie Sherwood: It’s so nice to play at the County Ground
And now they are playing their home games at the County Ground, which is special for Sherwood.
“The way the women’s game has grown and the support we get now is just amazing. I started off playing football in a boys’ team and used to be the only girl, and then you’d go to football tournaments, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, wow, that girl’s so good!’
“Now, when the Euros were on, I was away at the time, so we went to a bar to watch it – and I’ve never seen many people watching a game before, and it was just so nice to see.
“And the fans that we get at the County Ground now, it’s such a nice experience.
“All of us love playing there. It’s such a nice pitch, and then to have people cheering you on, it’s just a nice atmosphere!”
