Sara Blicavs is set to make her Australian Opals comeback after 12 months away from the game

After fighting through pain for most of her career, Opal Sara Blicavs was left mentally wrecked and about to call time on basketball. But now, after a year like no other, she’s set for a pain free return.

Just over 12 months ago Australian Opals star Sara Blicavs was in such incredible pain that she was ready to walk away from basketball.

Intense surgery, rehabilitation and a full body “refresh” was in store for the dual WNBL champion’s 2024, and after easing back in with a handful of games via NBL1 this past month, she will remarkably make her return to the national team court at next week’s trans-Tasman series.

Suffering from severe back pain for most of her playing career, Blicavs, 32, has been putting her body through a constant cycle of discomfort for years on end.

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Blicavs played through intense back pain and a shin fracture throughout the WNBL24 season. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Sara Blicavs in action for the Opals. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

But after playing through a 40 per cent fracture in her shin, (originally misdiagnosed as shin splints) which she recalls to be “the most painful thing ever” throughout her Melbourne Boomers 2023-24 season, she was officially prescribed a stint away from the game.

“I spoke up initially (at the Boomers), I got told it was shin splints and for the first month, I’m like, ‘shit, shin splint hurts like a b****,’” Blicavs told CODE Sports.

“And because I’m a typical athlete, I’m not gonna keep complaining about something that’s only shin splints but it ended up being really bad.

Blicavs recalls the ‘most painful thing ever’. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

“You know those freak accidents when athletes like randomly plant their legs and their bone comes through their skin? Yeah, it was at such a high risk of that happening.

“At that point I was just so sick of being in pain and my basketball performance over the last few years had just gone downhill so just mentally it was really affecting me, and I was pretty much going to retire.”

A spinal infusion and disc replacement in March of 2024 left Blicavs barely able to walk. Tasked with restrengthening her body to simply sit and stand for longer than half-hour increments, then to lift and eventually jump before thinking about shooting hoops.

And left not knowing if her career was over and if elite sport was ever going to be possible again.

Sara Blicavs had a spinal infusion. Picture: Supplied

And disc replacement. Picture: Supplied

No one would have questioned the Opals veteran for moving on from basketball, but as her surgeon promised to have her “playing for 10 more years and feeling at least 80% better,” the thought of playing the game she loves pain free for the first time since the early years of her career proved too compelling.

“I just thought I might as well go and get this surgery because I need it for my quality of life and then after it was like instant pain relief, which was just phenomenal,” Blicavs said.

“We didn’t know if people couldn’t come back and play at an elite level with a spinal fusion as your vertebrae is completely stuck in one spot.

“But it was responding really well to all the rehab. As soon as I started running again, it did well, then I started jumping again and I got used to it.

“I thought, I may as well give it another shot and see what happens and if not, you know, life’s still great.”

Reflecting on her past year, where she “got really good at a straight back lunge,” Blicavs is grateful for her forced break and the opportunity to reset both her body and mind.

And is now confident that her best is still to come.

“I actually really enjoyed the whole rehab and recovery year away from basketball, it was a good restart, a good refresh and I’m so proud of myself for getting to this stage.”

“I’m going to enter some of the best possible years of my life, one because mentally I’m happy but two because my body is free of pain and feeling great.”

Part of the Opals’ World Cup bronze medal team in 2022, Blicavs was devastated to miss out on Australia’s Paris Olympics campaign, but in January received a call from Opals coach Sandy Brondello asking if she wanted to be part of the next national team cycle, a four year block leading to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Blicavs is confident her best is still to come. Picture: Nikola Krstic/MB Media/Getty Images

And she says her return to the green and gold free of pain was as good as “getting told that I was in that World Cup team, I was just so rapt.”

“I was like, go on, just throw me back in, I love it and I was so excited.”

Upon her resurgence, Blicavs says her time away and making the choice to return to the sport has given her a new perspective on her career.

“I don’t want any pressure or expectations on myself anymore, I just want to play for happiness and just enjoy the sport.

“And rather than retire and be like, oh, thank god that’s over, I’d much rather retire and be like, jeez, basketball was fun.”

Both the Opals and Australian Boomers will take on New Zealand for the trans-Tasman series starting next Wednesday, May 7 in Adelaide, before heading to the Sunshine Coast and Hamilton, NZ.

Originally published as Sara Blicavs is set to make her Australian Opals comeback after 12 months away from the game