Any athlete recovering from a serious injury has a huge physical obstacle he or she must deal with and overcome.
But for ASU sophomore guard Dymond Simon, most of it was in her head.
The mental block?
A brace that was attached to her left knee from the start of this season until the beginning of February.
Simon said the brace was a constant reminder of the torn anterior cruciate ligament injury she suffered in January 2007, which forced her to miss the remainder of her freshman season.
"At the beginning of the season, with the brace, it was just so frustrating for me," she said. "[I was] just going through a period where I wasn't confident or [where I thought], 'I'm done with basketball, this is just so hard for me to play with this brace on.'"
But since Simon took the brace off before the Sun Devils' game against UA on Feb. 8, both her production on the floor and state of mind have skyrocketed.
"As soon as I took [the brace] off, it was just like a weight just lifted off my body," Simon said. "I'm getting my speed back, just my movement and everything. [My] cutting, jabbing and shot off-the-dribble — everything is coming back to me slowly. I'm peaking at the right time."
ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne also said she has noticed a huge change in Simon ever since the knee brace was removed.
"She's just blossoming in every way, and it all was triggered by the brace," Turner Thorne said. "I don't know that we all would have thought it was that much of a hindrance to her, but I really think it was."
Simon said she now looks at the injury as a positive turning point in her life and an experience that gave her a new perspective, changing her on and off the court.
"It's made me a better team person, because last year I was just a little freshman coming in [and] really didn't say anything," she said. "This year I've really opened up. I really have a close relationship with a lot of my teammates."
Turner Thorne said she has also seen growth in Simon's chemistry with the rest of the team, especially recently.
"She's not just playing great, she's leading right now," Turner Thorne said. "She's talking all throughout practice, and she wasn't doing that the whole year."
Simon's progress was really evident in the Pac-10 Tournament, where she had a breakout game against No. 9 California in the semifinals. She scored 22 points, with 12 of them coming in the final five minutes, when she led a late comeback attempt by the Sun Devils.
"I was just having a lot of fun, [in the Pac-10 Tournament] and just being myself, and playing for my coach and team," Simon said. "I just wanted to open up and show the nation what I can do."
The game against Cal was what Sun Devil fans have been waiting to see from Simon for more than a year. Before hitting the floor in pain in the Sun Devils' game against USC on Jan. 21, 2007, the local Phoenix St. Mary's High School product was becoming one of ASU's go-to scorers and was far from thinking her freshman season would come to an early close.
"My leg was numb [when I fell], I thought my leg was broken or something," Simon said. "I was walking up the tunnel crying [and] I was thinking about 'I'm going to be fine, I'll be fine, I'll be fine, it's nothing, it's nothing.'"
But the pain proved to be far from fine.
After looking at Simon's leg, ASU team physician Amy Overlin determined the ACL was torn.
Simon had surgery on her knee a few weeks later and immediately realized how hard recovering from the injury would be.
"The second day off my surgery had to be the worst pain I've ever felt in my life," she said. "It just felt like people were just taking knives and stabbing me in the leg."
Simon then began the rehabilitation process, which was filled with more pain and tears as trainers had to help her stretch and bend the leg, and get back to normal walking and running motions.
In the meantime, the 2006-07 Sun Devils were making a run to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, though Simon could do nothing more than watch from the bench.
It was very hard for Simon not to play during the last part of the greatest season in ASU women's basketball history, but she learned a lot while just watching each game unfold.
"It just made me more mature," she said. "Being able to sit on the bench with my coaches and team and actually see what Charli sees, see what [junior guard Briann January] sees on the court. As a point guard you need to be smart enough to see, 'OK, can I get the ball here or can I get this shot off?'"
And despite missing the second half of the conference season, Simon was still named to the 2006-07 All-Pac-10 Freshman Team.
"Honestly, I cried when I heard the news because I was just amazed," Simon said. "I never thought in a million years I would have gotten that, and that was one of my goals last year."
Some believed Simon would not be ready to play at the start of ASU's 2007-08 season, but she checked in early during the first half of the team's exhibition game against the U.S. National Team in November.
"She's a special kid, and her progress is just a sign of just not only her toughness, but her patience," Turner Thorne said. "Anybody that's been through an injury like that just knows how hard it is."
Although she was seeing playing time at the beginning of the season, Simon said she was far from 100 percent healthy.
"Most people were like, 'Oh, you're at 80 [percent],' and I was like, 'No, I'm at 50. This isn't me. I don't feel right,'" she said. "I wanted to play so bad, so I just bore with everything."
The 2007-08 season has been an inconsistent one for Simon while she battled back from the knee injury and a concussion, which she suffered last month. She has shown flashes of greatness but admitted she lost a lot of her aggressiveness while wearing the infamous knee brace.
"I went back and watched some of my games from earlier this season and I [was] just like, 'Wow, I don't even know who that person is,'" she said.
Now with the brace gone for good, Simon said she is in great shape to suit up for the NCAA Tournament and is ready help the Sun Devils make another deep run in March.
"I'm still a freshman to this stuff," she said. "It's pretty new to me and I'm so happy this year that I finally get a chance to experience [the NCAA Tournament] with my teammates."
Simon added that her standout game against Cal is only the beginning.
"You guys watch out," she said. "It's going to be a fun NCAA Tournament."
Reach the reporter at: gina.mizell@asu.edu.
