Injury-plagued Sarah Fahr to be a ‘Panther’ for a third straight year

Italian rising Volleyball star Sarah Fahr, who has been dealing with a serious knee injury since last year’s EuroVolley, will be spending her third straight season with Imoco. The middle blocker born in Germany, who moved to Tuscany at the young age of two, helped the ‘Panthers’ claim a clean sweep of all competitions they contested – including the CEV Champions League – in 2020/2021 – but a knee injury has almost prevented her from playing throughout the whole last club season.

Sarah did only play a few matches before undergoing a second knee surgery, followed by months of rehab and physical work. Despite this long absence from the court, she remains a key player for Imoco. “The rehab is proceeding very well, at a fast pace. I am working a lot in Conegliano with the staff, the work is tough and the programme is very intense. I am working hard to recover as best as I can. Working at this pace, time passes by quickly. I do not want to rush and have decided to do everything in the best possible way to get back on the court. I cannot wait to get back after a long time, enjoy the games, and our wonderful audience,” Sarah says.

Fahr will be a ‘Panther’ for a third consecutive year: “I am honoured, and the club was fantastic as always to confirm me even though I have been injured for almost a year. It was not so obvious and I thank the club for their trust. I want to repay this trust. I can improve and grow here, and I think there is no better place to do that. I am proud to be part of this club. In this difficult moment of my career, I have always had the support of everyone, from the fans to the coaching staff and physio who has worked a lot with me, not to forget the sponsors and the club. Everyone made me feel their closeness and helped me, this is not obvious and is one of the reasons why I want to return to the court and give back to those who have always supported me.”

There will be many new features in the team, with the roster of Imoco undergoing a number of changes. “Yes, there will be many changes, but I think it is a good thing. The group in recent years was very close, they have achieved many goals together, but now we turn the page and there will be new girls to meet and integrate into the group and new dynamics to create. It will be nice to start over with new personalities and a puzzle to compose, but always with big goals to achieve. It will be nice and interesting, and I expect a fun season,” Fahr continues.

Despite such changes, the goals will stay the same. “Probably at the beginning it will take a bit of patience to find the right chemistry. However, it will certainly be fun and interesting to participate in the growth of a new team, knowing that here we always play to reach the final stage of all competitions.”

The fans of Imoco are their seventh player: “They are our strength and our certainty. In the last months, it has been exciting to see the audience in the stands and the stadiums full, Palaverde in the [national league] finals was thrilling, and it was electrifying in Ljubljana too. I got excited myself from the outside, so I can only imagine what it must feel seeing the audience from the court! In these two years with the pandemic and injuries, I have never had the chance to play with a full Palaverde. This next season will be the good one and it will be nice to play with an audience that is a real bonus as ours.”