Shari Reed missed playing tennis.
The Clarksburg native and University of Charleston women’s tennis coach has been a fixture in the city’s tennis scene for more than two decades, but several years ago something changed.
Reed started to feel sick contantly. She would have to leave work sometimes it got so bad. After a few weeks of attempting to cope, Reed sought help.
Doctors tried to determine what was causing her illness, and when she started to experience hearing loss they were able to pinpoint the culprit — Meniere’s disease.
“It causes really bad balance and vertigo issues, also results in loss of hearing,” she said. “It’s pretty devestating when it hits you. It’s like a migraine — you don’t know when it’s going to come about, and when it does you don’t have any time. You can’t drive. You can’t function. I’ve been in bed for a day and half, two days before trying to shake it and it’s pretty devastating.”
So devastating that Reed decided she could not continue doing one of the things she loves — playing tennis. Reed stayed with UC as a coach, but stepped away from events such as Public Courts.
She tried to get back into the swing of competitive tennis after her diagnosis, even attempting to play in an event, but couldn’t do it. She stayed away.
“I didn’t even come around,” she said. “A group of friends, I think we had gone to nationals in 2001 and a couple of years ago they all got together and made it again. It was devastating. I couldn’t even be around them. I just shut down. I knew I was five minutes away from the next attack and didn’t know when it was going to hit or what was going to happen, to be out there on a court in front of a bunch of people and have that happen to you, it’s not very fun. It’s happened and I didn’t want to repeat that. It took a toll mentally as well as physically.”
Last fall, Reed’s condition took a turn for the worse with attacks from the disease becoming more frequent and harder to get past. She couldn’t continue on in her condition, so something had to be done.
“I couldn’t drive. My team came and got me, my friends came and got me and took me to and from practices, to and from matches,” she said. “It was the worst it had ever been. I found a doctor in Huntington, Dr. [Joseph] Touma, and we tried various treatment and finally decided on a surgery, so I had surgery.”
Reed, who will begin her 19th season at UC this fall, said she went through a procedure last November to decompress the endolymphatic sac in her ear. It is not a cure-all and there is still the possibility of problems related to Meniere’s returning, but Reed is back this year doing what she loves — playing tennis and participating in Public Courts with her friends.
One of those friends is George Bsharah, her partner this week in the mixed 55 doubles tournament.
Bsharah and Reed have known each other for decades, and he said seeing her not able to do the thing she loves was tough — but not as tough as what Reed was going through.
“I think it was very frustrating for her,” he said. “She’s always been very athletic, even in high school, and of course being around tennis as a job. You’re around it all the time but can’t play. I think it was very frustrating. It’s been very rewarding for her to get back to playing.”
Reed missed tennis, but not just for the the game itself. She missed being around people who shared her love for the sport and being able to test herself on the court.
For now, she’s able to get back to a place where those opportunites are possible for her again.
“You can see down here how social this event is,” she said. “These people, we play six, eight tournaments a year, and at these gatherings that’s the time everybody will get together. When you can’t be a part of it and you’re always sitting and watching, it’s tough. It’s like any athlete that gets hurt. The worst thing is having to go out there and watch while everyone else is participating and you’re on the sidelines.”
Reed said she’s uncertain what the future holds for her and tennis, but she’ll hang around as long as she is physically able to play and it remains fun.
“I hope [to play] more Public Courts because everybody is family down here,” she said. “You just want to be a part of it. The coaching, I’ll keep doing it as long as it’s fun. The student-athletes keep you young and we have a great group of kids. As long as we have a good group like that and I’m enjoying it and having fun with it, I’ll continue to do it as long as they’ll have me.”
Contact Tom Bragg at 304-348-4871 or tom.bragg@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomBraggSports.