Mighty Mike

Can basketball change your life for the better? Mike Simmel sure seems to think so. Mike wasn’t always the flourishing basketball player for the Harlem Wizards that he is today. As a child, he struggled with epilepsy, but he says that his life changed when “My dad had an idea to help develop my coordination. He had given me a basketball.” Now founder and leader of the Bounce out the Stigma program, Mike helps children with disabilities through basketball, just as his father helped him. His program creates peer support and promotes a healthy lifestyle.

Mike had to deal with hardship from an early age. When his seizures stopped at age seven, he started seriously pursuing basketball, joining camps, taking part in school varsity teams, and more. But the seizures returned at age 16, and when camps and coaches tried to kick Mike off the teams, it only made him work harder to reach his goals.

His struggles are what motivated him to start a youth program. He never wanted kids to feel the same isolation he did or face the same rejection. “I think all kids should be empowered to be the best that they can be. They shouldn’t be limited,” Mike says. The Bounce out the Stigma project, a basketball camp for youth, helps kids redefine their limits. The camp doesn’t create a competitive athletic environment, but rather a supportive and fun one. Instead of competing against each other, the children learn to compete with their own struggles. They test how far they are willing to push themselves and what they can and will achieve.

Along with developing the Bounce out the Stigma project, Mike pursues a motivational speaking career, whereby he positively inspires youth to achieve their goals. On how he motivates his listeners, Mike says, “they see me and I think they kind of see themselves. They hear my message and they say, ‘Wow, this is somebody I can relate to.’” He speaks annually at events for the Epilepsy Foundation, and has been featured on Bloomberg Radio, Radio Disney, ESPN Radio, NBC's It's Showtime at the Apollo, and more.

We can all learn a little something from Mike. It can be as simple as persevering in the face of adversity. As the program’s motto reads, “Limits never define you…you define your limits."