Magic's Peta Scholz bounces back

Star Aussie is hungry for success after last season ruined by injury, as sports editor Kelly Exelby writes

It might happen, but right now former Aussie international Peta Scholz doesn't have a burning desire to look at graphic images of last season's transtasman championship, pain filling the frame as she collapses to the floor after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
Scholz is back on court for Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic but the pain of that horrific injury while playing against the Central Pulse in Rotorua last May is still fresh.
The 35-year-old needed two lots of surgery - a full knee reconstruction 10 days after her injury and an operation to loosen tendons around her damaged knee four months later - but is nearing full fitness again just over a week from the start of the ANZ Championship.
She got through three of the five quarters in last weekend's 62-54 pre-season win over the Northern Mystics in Te Awamutu and is keen to repay coach Noeline Taurua's faith after Taurua talked her out of early retirement.
"There was a period during my rehab that I thought it might be time to bow out because I wasn't recovering all that quickly and it dawned on me maybe I'd had my time. And on top of that there's the thought that maybe the Magic wouldn't want me back - a 35-year-old, coming back from serious injury and at the end of her career.
"But I spoke with Noels and she encouraged me to re-evaluate, and going out injured wouldn't have been a great time to end my career. Never say never but I'd say this will probably be my last season of netball though."
Keyhole surgery using a synthetic ligament, available in New Zealand for shoulders and ankles but not knees, put the skates under Scholz's recovery.
She trained back in Adelaide with club side Oakdale but was tentative when she linked with Magic again for three weeks before Christmas. Every session is a step forward and Scholz says there won't be any holding back when Magic play their season-opener on February 20 against Southern Steel in Rotorua.
She's back living in Mt Maunganui with daughters Matilda, 5, and 4-year-old Poppy, and is itching for court time after spending the latter half of last season as a passenger.
"I wasn't an ideal spectator and it was a pretty tough eight weeks, but I went along to every game. The final, in my hometown (Adelaide) against my old team (Thunderbirds) was particularly tough."
It'll be Scholz's arms, rather than her legs, that will get a decent workout this weekend as Magic journey down the Wanganui River as part of a four-day wilderness team building adventure.
Taurua, a master of quirky team-building activities, initiated an 86km canoeing trip from Whakahoro to Pipiriki.
"Activities like this one give us the physical conditioning we need, but more importantly help us (management) learn about players when they are taken out of their comfort zone.
"We'll be isolated, literally in the middle of nowhere, far away from all distractions, and we'll have to cope."
The whole squad and team management heads to Whakahoro tomorrow and will paddle down the river in two-person Canadian canoes. They finish their river trek on Monday at Pipiriki, an hour's drive from Wanganui.
"There is no access in between, just us and nature," Taurua said, "(but I'm confident this time together will set us up for the season as a tight unit."