The First Interview: Netball family welcomes back Amy Carter

After rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in September, the 23-year-old soon had a recovery buddy in teammate Elia McCormick. 

And the rest of the Thunder family were always there to support her, comparing battle scars, and are now welcoming her back as she re-signs for the 2023 season. 

“Me and Elia at Thunder, we both did our ACLs at fairly similar times,” Carter recalls. “She did it a month later than me, so we’ve been on similar tracks. 

“We’re starting to do running sessions together, it’s been quite nice to be able to go through it with her and talk with her about stuff and where are you at, where am I at and checking in with each other.  

“There’s been a few injuries, I have been talking to Halimat Adio [of London Pulse] as well with her knee injury, it’s good to reach out. 

 

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A post shared by Amy Carter (@amyjcarter9)

“Basically everyone has done it, as soon as you announce you have done your ACL everyone’s like ‘oh my ACL’ and you’re comparing ACL scars, surgery scars and stories. 

“Even my coaches Karen [Greig] and Tracey [Neville], they were getting their scars out. There’s a lot of support and a lot of people have been through it.” 

While her teammates and coaches at Thunder showed Carter there was a route back from her ACL injury, it was another Vitality Netball Super League star who gave her advice on life away from the sport. 

Team Bath and England defender Layla Guscoth combines her job as a doctor with ruling the netball court, something Carter will now do having completed her degree at the University of Manchester earlier this year. 

Departing Thunder stalwart Caroline O’Hanlon is another VNSL player who regularly swaps the scrubs for the netball dress, with Carter admitting her former teammate has had to do it the harder way. 

She added: “She [O’Hanlon] had it a lot tougher than me. They now do a less-than-full-time work situation where you can balance it, but she just had to do all the night shifts everything and slave away on it.

🥁 Our latest signing is… 🥁@AmyJcarter6
Carter’s ability to play C & WD made her integral to Thunder mid-court squad👌
In pre-season 2022 @NetballSL, Carter ruptured her ACL, ruling her out for the season but thankfully, Carter is now BACK🙌#thunderhomecoming #vnsl2023 pic.twitter.com/0Kh5FEGi4S

— Manchester Thunder (@thundernetball) August 21, 2022

“Luckily for me, it’s a bit of a better situation. I was also speaking to Layla about it, and she’s given me loads of advice on how to balance it all and who I needed to contact.  

“So, I did all that and that’s why I’ve been able to get myself a good situation. 

“I’m into my third week working in surgery, so it’s quite hectic, I work eight to five most days, but they’ve been very good.  

“I can balance my netball with my work, they have been really flexible with that, which has been a huge, huge help.” 

Carter, who plays across centre and wing defence, made her Thunder debut in 2018, and was an integral part of the North West side claiming their third VNSL trophy in 2019. 

Last season, Carter watched on as Thunder added another title to their collection, going undefeated the whole season, something she would love to see happen again.

Those turnovers from Mid-courter Carter 🌪️
We can’t wait to see this whirlwind on court again🏃💨
Read more about @AmyJcarter6‘s return here:https://t.co/E7SPCvDNmx pic.twitter.com/U7UmHL8dxK

— Manchester Thunder (@thundernetball) August 22, 2022

“I went to all the home games so watched all that, and on the Finals weekend, I was down and joined them all with that,” she said. 

“I got to know a lot of the new girls that were there and obviously I know all the old girls that have been there for a while. 

“That [to go undefeated] would be incredible, but I quite like the close games and a little bit of fight. I’d like to be undefeated but have a few close games, so you are really having to fight for it.” 

As the start of the new season draws closer, Carter will also be counting down the days till she can pull on the red dress of England again. 

Carter made her England debut in 2020 while part of the Future Roses programme, but has now made the step up to the Vitality Roses squad. 

She said: “It’s been incredible because I’ve had quite a few years where I’ve had to do the Futures programme and I’ve not been able to make myself available for the full-time programme because of medicine. 

“And I’ve been trying to balance the two, not being able to have enough time off to commit to that, whereas this is the first year that I was able to really commit to the full-time Roses.  

“It will be nice to see what I can achieve during the full-time programme, being able to really focus on the netball.”

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