Shelda turned from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball when she was 18 years old. That same year, 1991, she was a passenger in a car that was hit by a drunk driver. She endured muscle damage and the nerve in her right hand was severed. A doctor told her that she would have to give up volleyball. Instead, after an operation, she learned to hit with her left hand, and she returned to the beach. She and her partner, Adriana Behar, soon dominated the sport, eventually earning twice as much money on the world tour than any other women's team.

年幼的时候，谢尔达开始接受的是室内排球训练，直到18岁的时候，她才转向沙滩排球。同年，她遭遇到一场车祸，让她的肌肉受伤，同时右手神经受损。医生告诉她，她将不得不离开排球事业。但是在一场手术后，她开始训练用左手打排球，并从此转向沙滩排球。经过一段时间的训练，她和她的搭档阿德里亚娜•比哈尔，很快就在沙滩排球领域展露头角，并在世界巡回赛中取得不错的成绩。

They won the world championship in 1999 and entered the 2000 Olympics as the favourites. They won their first four matches and then, in the final at Bondi Beach, faced Australians Natalie Cook and Kerri Pottharst, whom they had beaten 14 of the 17 times they had played. Although Shelda and Adriana Behar led in both sets, they lost 11-12, 10-12.They rebounded to win the world championship again in 2001. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, they swept through their first six matches, including a quarterfinal victory over 1996 Olympic champion Sandra Pires and her partner Ana Paula and a semifinal win against Natalie Cook and her new partner Nicole Sanderson. Shelda and Adriana Behar were beaten in the final 17-21, 11-21 by Americans Kerri Walsh and Misty May, however they became the first beach volleyball pair to earn medals in two Olympics.

1999年，他们获得世界冠军，并作为种子选手进入2000年澳大利亚悉尼夏季奥运会沙滩排球比赛。在开始的四场比赛中，她们顺利拿下，决赛在邦迪海滩进行，对手是她们曾经17次对决中14次战胜的库克和波特哈斯特组合。尽管在两局的比赛中，谢尔达和阿德里亚娜都一直领先，但最终以11-12和10-12遗憾的失利，与金牌无缘。2001年，她们的状态有所反弹，重新夺得世界冠军。2004年希腊雅典夏季奥运会上，她们连胜六场挺进决赛，但他们再一次倒在金牌面前，17-21和11-21落败两局。尽管两次都没能夺取金牌，但谢尔达和阿德里亚娜仍然是第一对在两届奥运会上都能获得奖牌的沙滩排球组合。