I can’t wait to get back out on court

Kirsty nears end of rehab hell

Kirsty Gilmour will come to the end of a“slow journey” back to fitness when she takes part in the Scottish National Championships in Perth next weekend.

It’s not the biggest tournament the Olympian has taken part in, but Kirsty will be grateful that she’s able to do so, having gone through almost four months of rehabilitation since undergoing a knee cartilage operation on October 5. Gilmour (23), from Hamilton, said: “My entry is in for the Nationals, in the first weekend in February, so if all continues to go as it is in training then we should be okay for that, and it would be a good place to start to get back into competitive play. “I’m hoping to then play the Austrian International Challenge in the third week of February – so we have a couple [of tournaments] lined up, and we have a best-case scenario tournament programme, and then we can swap in or take things out if things aren’t going as perfectly as we thought.

“On the physical side of things we’re ticking boxes all over the place. I had some fitness testing last Tuesday and I surpassed my targets, so I was really happy.

“It’s now about the mental side of things and getting back into competing. I’m getting good at training – but it’s the thought of getting back into competition which is going to be tough.

“I’ll get back there, and we’ll slowly start upping the level of tournaments that I’ll play, so we’ll start with some challenges and Grand Prix Golds, and then hopefully make it back up to the Asian Super Series, and things like that. It’s a slow journey, but we’ll get there.”

Rehabilitation has been frustrating for Kirsty, who admits she’s not the most patient person at the best of times, but she has accepted it as a necessary part of progress.

She said: “It was horrible doing nothing, and then you start to accept it. Just when you start to accept it, that’s when you can start to train a little bit more.

“It’s hard, going from a rigid structure of 9am to 11am, 2pm to 4pm, and then recovery in the afternoon and evenings, to absolutely nothing.

“I like the routine and the rigidity now that we’ve got it, but in each phase of my rehab we’ve been going through, we’ve got to the last week of it and I’ve been clockwatching until we can get to the next part.

“It’s just gaining that trust. When you jump out you jump straight up the way and your legs straighten, and it was like a stiffness inside my knee because the bit of cartilage was being tugged at, but there was no great pain.

“However, every time you do a lunge or an odd movement or you really have to stretch for a shuttle, you just think something’s not right in there – you just can’t get that peace of mind. You have to be able to trust your body to cope with everything.

“I’ve always felt that I was ready to get to the next part, which is good, and I’ve never done an exercise and thought, ‘I don’t think I should be doing this; this isn’t right.’ So I think we’ve got it bang on with the physios at the Scottish Institute of Sport.

“It has been slowly building up to being able to go on a bike again and then up to lunging forwards or doing a body-weight squat. I had to check all these boxes for three or four weeks before I could move on to the next thing.

“In the last couple of weeks I’ve been moving on almost a full court, starting to play full-court rallies and things like that.

“I can’t tell you how excited that makes me.”