The
comeback
kid
Erin Simmons of
the UCLA diving
team is well on her
way back from
her ACL injury
By Ross Bersot
Exploding upward off the three-meter board, the diver tucks into
a compact ball and begins to spin. Upon completing two and a half
turns, she extends her arms toward the pool and straightens her
legs, slipping into the water almost unnoticed. A seemingly
effortless motion. Third-year UCLA diver Erin Simmons makes her
work look easy, but nobody knows better the true difficulty of what
she does.
It has not been a year since Simmons underwent reconstructive
surgery to repair an almost non-existent anterior cruciate ligament
in her knee. The injury first occurred in a freak high school P. E.
class accident, but at 16 she did not want to invest nine months of
her life into rehabilitating the knee.
"They figured that I could probably keep diving, even without an
ACL, because there is no lateral movement, so I did," Simmons said.
"It wasn’t until I came to UCLA and started training as hard as we
train here that it really started to bother me."
The strain of collegiate diving finally took its toll on the
weakened knee in October of her sophomore year.
"The way I initially reinjured it was doing somersaulting in the
Wooden Center gym," Simmons said. "I landed on the ground wrong and
twisted (the knee). They think that is when I tore the ACL
completely."
Walking, let alone diving, became difficult as the knee gave way
under even slight pressure. Ignoring the pain, Simmons was
determined to complete the season.
"We didn’t think that it would continue to be a problem because
when I hurt myself when I was younger I was able to do intense
rehab, strengthen my muscles and get back into diving," Simmons
said. "We thought that’s what would happen, unfortunately it
didn’t."
Simmons went under the knife last March in hopes of reviving her
ailing knee and continuing her diving career. But the surgery is
only the beginning of the story. The road back to competition from
a devastating injury like a torn ACL is long and rough and it
doesn’t have any rest stops.
Only an intense desire to return to the sport she loves allowed
her to persevere through the pain of rehabilitation. Just after the
surgery, she could not even trust that if she put her leg on the
ground it would be there to support her. The reconstructed joint
had to be strengthened and conditioned to functional form.
"It’s painful. The skin is tender, your leg has been violated
and it’s all swollen," Simmons said. "You have to learn how to walk
again without a limp."
She credits her coach and teammates for supporting her through
difficult times.
"(My teammates) have all been very encouraging," Simmons said.
"The three freshmen that are diving right now, Rose (Huelskamp),
Tracy (Wilcox) and Alicia (Solomon) didn’t know me from before but
even still, they were so encouraging, so enthusiastic, just very
helpful. They have so much energy. Lauren Loberg who is a junior,
also helped me out because she is very positive and
encouraging."
The root of Simmons’ ability to comeback is her focused and
determined demeanor. Since becoming serious about her sport at 16,
only the pursuit of academic excellence has matched her desire to
be the best diver possible. Her two-track mind is devoted to her
studies and her sport, creating a mental fortitude that withstood
even a potential career-ending injury.
"She worked through a lot of frustration and days where her knee
felt like garbage and she wasn’t able to do what she wanted to,"
UCLA diving coach Tom Scotty said. "She never lost sight of what
her long-term goals were and it’s that kind of
‘stick-to-it-tiveness’ that makes her such a great person.
"There is no one that was more determined to come back and
succeed than her."
Not only has Simmons just come back to the pool, she has already
begun to dive better than she had previous to the surgery.
"I think with the month or six weeks we have left she’s really
going to put it together and easily surpass her accomplishments
(of) last year," Scotty said. "Those were our goals for her Â
not to just get back, but to be better than ever and I think she’s
going to do that."
By surviving the trials and the tribulations of an injury and
being able to work her way back to top form, Simmons feels she has
proven to herself the true strength she possesses.
"It’s shown me what is inside of me," Simmons said. "I’ve been
tested and I’ve succeeded. It makes me think that I can overcome
other hurdles in my life, beyond diving."