Witschge Refuses To Concede To Injury

2014_06_08_Inglewood_v_Floreat_1056Having another season ruined by injury has strengthened Scott Witschge’s desire to play senior football for Inglewood United. Witschge, 20, has been knocking on the first team selection door for much of his three years at Inglewood but on each occasion has cruelly been tripped up by injury. Last year it was a blood clot in his lung that robbed the talented defender the opportunity he worked so hard for, while a dislocated shoulder ended his 2014 campaign prematurely. “It has been extremely frustrating,” Witschge said. “Each time it’s looked as though I’ll be playing, or have actually started playing, I get a serious injury.”

But Witschge, who damaged his shoulder in the late June meeting with Balcatta, refuses to allow his career to be derailed. “I start physiotherapy next week, I’ll spend six weeks doing strengthening exercises and having lots of physio visits. Then I go back to the hospital for an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon,” he explained. “I want to get myself in a good enough physical condition that I can hopefully have an injury-free season. Next season I plan to become a first team regular, I’ve featured briefly over the last few years and have shown some glimpses of what I can do but injuries have always got in the way.”

Witschge was just over half an hour into his third start of the season when fate intervened. “I was covering behind Luke (Martino), running back towards the goal, and cleared a shot off the line,” he recalled of the moment his season came to a sudden halt. “My momentum carried me into the post so I put my right arm up to brace the impact and my forearm took the full force of the collision. I thought I’d just jarred my shoulder but after walking off the pitch and taking off my shirt I realised how badly out of place it was … my shoulder had popped out.”

The loss of Witschge could not have come at a worse time for the defender, or his club. “It was looking like it was my time to step up but it wasn’t meant to be,” he said, philosophically. “We have been unlucky with our back four this year with Jon Stripe breaking his arm and Joe Pullella, Connor Devlin and Scott Blackmore all going on lengthy holidays. It’s been frustrating not to be able to put the boots on and help out the lads. We’ve out-played the opposition in 80-90% of our games but just haven’t got the results that we deserved.”

Now on the road to recovery, Witschge, who represented the State and Australia at Schoolboys level while with Forrestfield United, is looking forward to playing his part in Inglewood’s successful future. “I still have so much to give to the club,” the defender commented. “In three years at Inglewood I’ve developed immensely under knowledgeable coaches such as Michael Garcia, Aldo Trinca and Graham Normanton without getting the consistent playing time I’d hoped for because of injury. Inglewood have big goals, they want to be one of the top clubs in Western Australia, and I want to help them get there.”