Support From Within – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Ohio State sophomore center Terence Dials will be the first to admit that one of the most difficult aspects of sustaining an injury is the inability to play the game he loves. Aside from the disappointment of simply not competing, Dials experienced frustration that was the result of not playing when his teammates needed him most. After participating in the Buckeyes’ first six games, including four starts, last season, Dials suffered a back injury that left him unable to compete for the remainder of the year.
“My back had been hurting for at least a month and by the Pittsburgh game the pain was severe, but I tried to play through it,” Dials said. “Two days later my back locked up and I couldn’t move and that’s when I knew something was seriously wrong.”
Initially Dials thought the back pain was spasms that would eventually subside with a few weeks of rest, but team doctors began to notice that he was not healing as quickly as they had hoped and after taking X-rays and cat scans, Dials found out that his spasms were actually pain resulting from a stress fracture in the lumbar spine. At that moment it became the decision of Ohio State to petition the Big Ten Conference for a medical hardship, which was later granted.
Dials said he felt relieved to be granted the medical redshirt, which restores a year of eligibility for a student-athlete when a year has been lost because of injury, but was upset because he felt he could have prevented the injury in the first place.
“I was definitely mad at myself because I did not come into preseason camp in shape,” Dials said. “I felt like the whole situation was my fault because it started with me being lazy and not working out as much as I should have over the summer. Once I began the season and I began putting my body through the rigors of practice, being out of shape eventually took its toll on my back.”
In addition to his immense frustration, Dials was briefly worried that his injury could be career ending. The most serious injury he had ever suffered from was minor knee damage in high school that left him out for six weeks. The back injury was more severe and Dials did not know what to expect as far as the time it would take for it to heal, along with the treatment that he would have to undergo. However, Ohio State team doctors quickly reassured Dials that he would fully recover from the stress fracture provided he performed all the necessary exercises that would promote recovery.
With the rest of the season to heal, along with the summer and early fall, Dials was immediately put into a rehabilitation program that would get him back on the court for the following season. Dials’ preliminary therapy was simply resting his back before he began an intense workout regimen. From December to mid-February, Dials performed light stretching to ease the pain and facilitate healing, in addition to electroshock therapy to try to loosen up the back muscles. However, Dials quickly gained weight, which peaked at 270 pounds, the most he had ever weighed. Immediately, he began seeing a nutritionist on a regular basis and he started to shed the extra pounds.
Within about three months, Dials had dropped 20 pounds and slimmed his body fat by eight percent. Then between mid-February until the end of the summer, Dials was introduced to an extreme workout that was probably the hardest challenge he had ever had to overcome as far as basketball was concerned. As the end of the summer neared, Dials became stronger and leaner and was able to lift weights more frequently, proving his back was healing properly.
“I had to do a lot of little things to get into shape,” Dials said. “I had to do exercises, such as stomach crunches to help strengthen my back and the muscles around my back. There also was a lot of cardiovascular exercises like running and using the stair master. I had to change my whole lifestyle. It was difficult at first, but I got used to it.”
Working closely with Ohio State’s team athletic trainer, Dials credits Vince O’Brien, along with strength and conditioning coach Anthony Glass with his return to the basketball court.
“Both Vince and coach Glass made the extra effort of pushing me when there were days when I didn’t want to come and made me do things I didn’t want to do,” Dials said. ” But when I was finished, I felt much better about myself and I owe them a lot of credit for preparing me for this season.”
In the hopes of making Dials’ workout less monotonous, O’Brien varied his exercises daily. Dials never knew what was planned for the day, so he rarely encountered a boring moment in his workout and by setting smaller goals, such as achieving a certain number of sets and repetitions with strength training, minutes of cardiovascular exercises and distance on the track, Dials was simultaneously reaching his main objective of playing basketball again.
“With any long rehab, there are days when the athlete does not want to be stuck inside doing exercises or he may have soreness from adding a new exercise and they can be somewhat scared that the injury has returned,” O’Brien said. “On these particular days, our training staff would simply reassure Terence, reduce his workout that day, add a new stretch and just be confident and positive with him and remind him of the goals we set at the beginning.”
With therapy consuming much of his time, Dials looked for other outlets to help take his mind off his workout regimen. He usually found time for playing video games, his favorite hobby, and spent many hours hitting the books. Because he stayed in Columbus when the team traveled, Dials used this free time to improve his grades and found that to be the silver lining to a disappointing year.
“I believe things happen for a reason and this injury humbled me a lot,” Dials said. “You always think these things will never happen to you, then when you have a set-back, you remember the true love you have for the game. It made me appreciate what I had because I did not want to leave the game this soon.”
Affectionately referring to her son as “T,” Judith Kimbrough knows her son is a naturally humble person and she continuously encourages Dials to stay strong and focused. Although she never wants to see Dials injured, Kimbrough realized the bright side of the situation was he would receive an additional school year at Ohio State, while retaining his remaining three years of basketball eligibility.
‘T’ has suffered injuries in basketball before and I have always told him to keep a positive outlook,” Kimbrough said. “One thing about ‘T’ is he is a naturally mature person, who has never been out for himself. He is not a selfish person or a selfish player and I knew all those things would help him recover from his injury.”
As time became the ultimate factor in the healing of his back, Dials constantly found others, aside from O’Brien and his family, encouraging him. The Buckeye coaching staff proved to be a valuable motivator for Dials, stressing how significant to the OSU offensive scheme he was. Head coach Jim O’Brien spoke to Dials about the importance of coming into camp in shape and the last thing Dials wanted to do was disappoint the coaching staff and his teammates. He was motivated to work harder and spend the extra time getting his body in shape. For Monte Mathis, his role as an assistant coach was to make sure Dials kept his head up and maintained a positive state of mind.
“Terence was very motivated in the training room,” Mathis said. “He went to the extreme to get better and he made sure he did everything properly. It was amazing to watch a young guy like Terence put in the extra time, the two hours before practice and the two hours after practice, to get better, knowing the other guys on the team didn’t have to. He has always been a mature person who never took things for granted. He always realized it was a privilege to play basketball at Ohio State and he takes advantage of that opportunity.
“Terence also was great with his teammates,” Mathis said. “He was definitely a bright spot for the team when they were struggling because it was a difficult time for both Terence and the team.”
Conversely, Dials’ teammates were always giving him praise for making it through another day in rehab because they, probably better than anyone, understood the difficulty in not being able to play.
“One through 12, every guy on this team knows what it’s like to not play,” Dials said. “So they know how tough it is to sit out.”
As Dials initially adjusted to inspiring his team in a new way, he quickly realized he was not alone in supporting the squad from courtside. Transfers Tony Stockman and J.J. Sullinger were required to sit out a season under NCAA guidelines and the three developed a close friendship that would eventually prove valuable on the court this year.
“We definitely developed a bond because we were all going through the same thing,” Sullinger said. “It was probably a little different from Terence’s perspective because he was injured, while Tony and myself were just waiting to become eligible, but we all understood what each of us were going through. You always develop a bond with all your teammates, but because we could not play, we did hang out with each other and I think the friendship that we developed has helped us dramatically on the court.”
As Dials embarked on preseason camp and practice for the 2003-04 season, he was ready to familiarize himself with the hardwood once again and help lead Ohio State to its second Big Ten regular season or tournament title in four years and its sixth-consecutive appearance in postseason play. Excited to return, Dials was not worried about the prospect of injuring his back again.
“I think I did a pretty good job of strengthening the muscles around my back, so the injury shouldn’t ever happen again,” Dials said. “I still do exercises to this day to prevent anything from happening to my back.”
As the Big Ten season approaches, Dials is not hesitant to share that he is at his best mentally and physically and is eager to continue to play a vital role for the Buckeyes. He also acknowledges that learning to set goals and having a plan to achieve those goals will help him triumph over any obstacle, whether it is in basketball, school, his career or life in general.
” Mentally I have become a stronger person,” Dials said. “Little things don’t bother me anymore. When I lose a game it hurts, but not playing hurts worse. I take losses in stride and just try to get better each day.”
