Silver Fern Parris Mason bounces back from scary neck injury

Taini Jamison Trophy - Silver Ferns v South Africa

Game starts 7.40pm, Wednesday, 24 September

Pettigrew Green Arena, Napier

Live blog updates on RNZ Sport

Pain is a reminder of the sickening neck injury Silver Ferns defender Parris Mason suffered nearly three months ago, but it hasn't curbed her fearless style of play.

When the Silver Ferns beat South Africa 77-51 in the first test of the Taini Jamison series on Sunday, the contest also marked Mason's return from injury.

When people think of nasty netball injuries, they think ACL or Achilles tendon, but during Central Pulse's ANZ Premiership match against Northern Stars in early July, Mason suffered what could potentially have been an even more sinister issue.

Following a scramble for the ball and a jumble of limbs, another player fell over and Mason's neck took a lot of the weight. She fell awkwardly to the floor and felt pain straight away.

Mason, 22, remembers the incident vividly.

"I remember the pain being quite instant, so from the minute I went down, I think I almost felt like the whole situation was in slow-mo," she said.

Fear of what the pain meant was just as distressing for Mason.

"Prior to that, I had recently witnessed two of my good friends fracture their necks playing rugby, so seeing them go through it was a bit of a shock to me and my friends.

"It was scary, because it was such a weird injury, so I think I was grateful that my injury was the best it could have been, given the fall I took."

Mason's mother was in the crowd that day and saw her daughter wheelchaired off the court.

"It's the first time Mum has seen me with an injury that serious, and then my partner was at his rugby game and his parents quickly rushed him to the hospital, because we were unsure of how I actually was at that stage."

Mason spent more than eight hours at Wellington Hospital, waiting to be cleared of any major injury. A Computed Tomography (CT) scan confirmed her spine wasn't fractured.

"I had some really good specialists looking after me and they were so thorough to make sure there definitely wasn't a fracture - they were amazing."

Mason was also cleared of any disc or main ligament injury, but she was in a neck brace for a few weeks and her domestic season was over.

"To be told I had to stop playing was new territory for me," she said. "It was a very unusual injury to be had in netball, but we just took it week by week in terms of rehabilitation.

"Because it was a bit of an unknown, it was more of a process of seeing how it was going to react, not really knowing what was going to happen."

Did the injury scare knock Mason's confidence about returning to court?

"Honestly no," she insisted. "In terms of stepping out on the court, the only thing that was keeping me going was knowing the date for me to be able to play, so no, I can't say I have any fear of playing."

Mason played 17 minutes in the first test on Sunday and hopes for more when the Silver Ferns meet the Proteas again on Wednesday.

She still has some lingering pain in her neck, which will stick around a bit longer.

"I can always feel it, but I was told that things are going to be sore for me," she said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm putting more damage on my neck, so the pain and the soreness I feel is pretty usual for me now.

"It's more or less my normal, but not one part of me is scared - not one part of me thinks about it, when I'm training.

"We knew very quickly that I'm going to be in pain for a little while. It was a pretty decent muscle injury,

"That pain is going to be there, but it's not stopping me with anything.

"We work hard to make sure I'm always activating it. I've got a strengthening programme for it and, every single day, I'm doing little things to improve it."

Mason said family and friends provided amazing support, and she was also overwhelmed by the concern shown from strangers.

"I had no idea how far-reaching the netball base goes, how much people cared about whether I was OK, and from fans of other teams, not just Pulse fans.

"It was really amazing to see the support. There were several messages coming in to me.

"I was grateful that so many people were thinking about me. It isn't a nice way to see someone go down."

World Netball's revised rules, which came into effect last year, put a new emphasis on player safety, particularly regarding the head and neck.

Mason said her injury made her far more aware of the importance of protecting that part of the body.

Two weeks ago, Netball New Zealand rocked the sport with the decision to stand coach Dame Noeline Taurua down for the three-test series against South Africa. Yvette McCausland-Durie stepped in last minute to coach the side during the series.

McCausland-Durie was Mason's former coach at the Pulse and also mentored her at high school.

Mason said the experienced coach had kept the team focussed.

"It's a really tough situation for all of us players here and there's so much uncertainty," she said. "Having Yvette come in with all the uncertainty going on, it's been nice for me to have someone I know so well, keeping the ship going, keeping us steady, while other stuff is going on in the background."

Mason now has six test caps, after making her Silver Ferns debut last year.

She said the best thing they could do was win the series 3-0 by playing quality netball.

"Obviously, it came to us as a shock, but our mindset it just on the games at the moment. We have to have faith in Netball NZ and Noels that they are doing their best to resolve the situation that's going on."

The second test starts at 7.40pm Wednesday in Napier.

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