September Epilepsy Star: Mike Simmel of Bounce Out the Stigma
September Epilepsy Star: For this issue, we are so very pleased to have Mike Simmel of Bounce Out the Stigma as our star. Please read on to learn all about Mike and the incredible work he has been doing for the epilepsy community and all his future goals.
How did epilepsy enter your life?
At 2, I had my first seizure as a youth in California, before I moved to New Jersey. Eventually I started having drop (atonic) seizures until age 7, and they were severe. During some of the meals I ate with family, I sometimes could not eat at the table, and we ate picnic meals on the floor with plastic utensils. I even needed help going to the bathroom, with supervision as the fear was that I would have a seizure. I wore a helmet. My first year in school, I could not do a jumping jack and I was in a special-ed gym class. Then my seizures went away for 10 years and came back at age of 16 when I was at a basketball camp. They continued through the age of 31, in the form of grand mal attacks and petit mal. Some of the grand-mals were very severe, falling down flights of stairs and banging my body and head on porcelain and hard surfaces in the shower. The danger-effect was catastrophic!
I have not had a seizure since 2009, because of medication. I am still taking medication for my epilepsy, which includes Depakote ER and Zonegran. I take these because they are “extended release” tablets and allow me to live a healthy active lifestyle, “on the go”, strong and independently. So long as I take my medicine at the same time each day, I am ready for any challenge in my way.
Who taught you to play basketball?
My dad taught me how to shoot and dribble the basketball because he was a very good player in his day. He bought me videos on how to do certain drills and worked with me on a basketball court he put in the backyard for me. Back when I was a kid, we had a VCR and I would study the game for hours on end and mimic the video cassette tapes, either I bought or games I recorded, on TV, of my favorite basketball stars.
What do you tell kids about how you developed your skills and became one of the World-Famous Harlem Wizards?
I was in special-ed gym class and could not do a jumping jack at one point in my life. However, I always loved sports, especially baseball at first, and the NY Yankees who had a star named Don Mattingly. However, I really got into basketball after watching the old Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry games on TV with my dad and brother, Joe, when I was around the age of 8. I wanted to be like Larry Bird, my favorite player. When I first started playing, every time I would take a shot in our cul de sac I would say, “Larry Bird, help me now!”
My brother and I played countless hours together and I honed my skills dribbling all over the neighborhood, throughout town, walking my dog, and even whilst going to and from school! The purpose for the basketball was to overcome my lack of motor skills, I think it worked! I soon became a really good player in grammar school doing things that made onlookers take notice. These were things that seemed well beyond the capabilities of someone my age at handling the ball. I was a player that threw all sorts of fancy passes on a dime too… As a teen, I used my “secret way” of getting into my high school gym and dribbled with the lights off. I’d even do drills with gloves on late at night and early in the morning! I didn’t have amazing stats in high school, even though I was a 3-year varsity starter, all – league standout, letterman, and captain. The thing that people liked was that playing with me made them better, and I was the ultimate teammate and competitor. Basketball gave me the confidence and empowerment skills needed to cope with the challenges physically, emotionally, and mentally, that I faced as I was always socially awkward and was bullied at times for that. I knew that anytime I felt down, and, in a rut, I could just go to the gym and immerse myself in my own “little world” on “my personal court of imagination” with my crazy drills and shots. Basketball saved me from my shyness as well as from my inner struggles!
In 1999, whilst in college, I was dared by my brother, Joe, to send a tape to audition doing basketball tricks on the NBC – TV Television Show It’s Showtime at the Apollo, starring Steve Harvey. I was selected and performed live in the World-Famous Apollo Theater! I survived and didn’t get booed off the stage! There, I knew that I wanted to be a professional entertainer with basketball. At the same time, I started my own business speaking at summer basketball camps on the east coast to earn some “spend money”. My entrepreneurial spirit paid off, because I put in a “cold call” to the Wizards’ during my last year of college in 2001, and it eventually led me to a spot on their team and a first game in my hometown… how crazy is that! I played hundreds of games as well as performed at halftimes of those games too! It was a good run but most important it gave me a platform to do what I always had the ambition to do in the end, further my career to give back to those with special needs and epilepsy. Basketball helped me get my college degree and now it was my JOB! Mighty Mike was born! I played my first game in my hometown in 2001 and my last game in my hometown in 2014! That is pretty cool because I did it my way! On my terms.
Tell us about how your basketball skills became part of your epilepsy journey??
Basketball was able to make me stronger for my epilepsy and create avenues in my life that nothing else would. I have been able to do a lot of great things, go to a lot of cool places, meet amazing people, and help so many on this journey, because of this incredible sport. The most important thing I have learned was that “epilepsy does not define me, but I define myself”! The only way you can do that is through your God – given abilities, hard work, faith, and determination. My epilepsy journey has been tough, but the basketball skills and God-given ability I have, has been able to help me conquer anything. Just like the title character in my co-written children’s book, published in 2011, Mighty Mike Bounces Back!
The origin story of Bounce Out the Stigma is intense, please tell us about it.
When I was 16 years old, I attended an elite basketball camp in NJ. While there, I had my first major seizure in roughly 10 years! It was a grand mal and I was sent to the hospital via EMT. The Director of the Camp, later, called my dad and told him that he had to come and take me home, as there were liability issues because of my having epilepsy. Most people were not very understanding, especially in 1994. My dad tried to reason with him, but he was not having much success. Then finally things got a little heated, and that is when they finally let me stay. Still, this caused some bad blood. The relationship with that camp program was not the same as they still probably looked at me cross-eyed. What was I to do though? I just wanted to play ball. From that point on, I made a promise to myself that if I was ever able to help kids in the same situation I was in, with any need or disability, I was going to do it.
Fast forward to 2005, I was doing a lot of pro-bono work on my own with many epilepsy groups and non for profits using my status as a pro basketball player to give back.
However, I really wanted to do more and make a more lasting impact. My dad and I went out to dinner one night, and we dreamed of the notion of starting a signature an actual Mighty Mike Camp for all kids with inclusion and basketball! Which was always my DREAM!
We both recalled that day in 1994 when I felt different and ostracized for having that seizure at camp. There were so many kids out there with autism, ADHD, epilepsy, and other invisible disabilities, that have no one fighting for them and feel ostracized too. I wanted to be that guy, fighting their fight, and I wanted to have my camp be that place for them!
As a result, I drew up a business proposal for my dad the next day and just like that, The Bounce Out the Stigma Project was born! If Bounce Out the Stigma® was going to be “big”, I knew that we had to have one good camp locally and make it “right”, cultivate it, and if it remained “strong and empowering” in the eyes of the public, the program would take off. Nine years after that, I took it on a full time-basis after my retirement from playing with the Harlem Wizards in 2014, because I saw how much growth we had. This was the time… I was the voice…and we were in a few states already. Now, I truly wanted to make the promise I’d made to myself as a high schooler a reality and live out God’s mission.
Since taking the Program full-time, Bounce Out the Stigma has been in over 25 states: we co-op with corporations, non-profits, NBA Teams, Colleges. In 2019 Bounce Out the Stigma was named Jr NBA Program of the Year amidst thousands of mainstream and inclusive programs all-across the US. This is solely a grassroots organization, and we know more growth is imminent.
Tell us about your Bounce out the Stigma foundation and the wide variety of offerings it has camps, clinics, school programs, and educational seminars.
Bounce Out the Stigma runs year-round programming. I am lucky to be assisted by Coach Bob Azzolino, a current full-time special needs teacher, former collegiate athlete, and former high school coach, in most of my programming throughout the year.
Clinics and Workshops: We are based in Northern NJ but run “Seasonal School Year” Clinics” 6 – 8 weeks, for 5 -7 days a week, with individual townships and rec departments in Northern NJ. We run one – time clinics out of state during down months in September, January, and April, in other states, as well.
Summer Camps: 12 Programs in 7 states in 2023. Some of these programs are partnered with corporations, colleges, and NBA Teams (including the 76ers, Magic and Knicks)
School Programs: Mighty Mike does in-school Assembly Programs featuring tricks and a motivational message. In addition, we also go to special needs schools to work in the NY/NJ tri – state area and work with an individual population over a set period for time (4-6-weeks)
You have received so many recognitions and awards, can you tell us about a few of these?
Amongst the More than 14 Awards that I have received which have included Commendations, Citations, Community Service, in-game awards by sports teams, etc. these are the few that stand out as some of my favorite:
2009: Received the honor of Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the US Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Prestigious TOYA Award. Other notables to receive this include JFK, RFK, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Joe Biden, Arthur Ashe, Howard Hughes, Nelson Rockefeller, Peyton Manning, Elvis
2014: Named a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky. This is the highest honor in the Bluegrass State, other notables, Bill Clinton, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Tiger Woods, Arthur Ashe, Elvis
2018: Named Knicks Nat ‘Sweetwater’ Clifton City Spirit Award, this award is given to someone who exemplifies the courage that the all-time basketball great stood for. This was a ‘Full-circle Moment’ for me being honored on center court of Madison Square Garden, in front of 25,000 fans where I used to be a NY Knicks ball-boy nearly 20 years earlier.
2019: BOTS was named the Jr NBA Program of the Year presented by UnderArmour. This was done through a rigorous process amongst thousands of candidates of all backgrounds, across the US. We were blessed to receive.
Where are the programs you offer, who can attend and what can they expect to gain from attending? If a kid wants to attend one of your programs, how do they sign up?
Currently, our satellite states are in NJ, NC, SC, GA, KY, PA, FL, MA. If you sign up, you will be taught to have fun with the game and learn in an inviting, judgement free, and inclusive environment. If kids and families want to sign up, they just go to bounceoutthestigma.org and go to the events section periodically. If they have any issues regarding, they can call us directly at the number listed on the sites contact page 1-855-997-3900.
Do your programs run year-round or are they more summer-based? Our programs are year-round.
What is in the future for Mighty Mike? Mighty Mike has a new book coming out in the future and is expanding Bounce Out the Stigma in many of the states offered. Be sure to check in to our website bounceoutthestigma.org and on Facebook and Instagram at bounce out the stigma, to see when and where we are coming to your neighborhood and look for updates soon!
Thank you, Mighty Mike for being our September 2023 Epilepsy Star, for all you do and will be doing for the epilepsy community and stay tuned everyone for the new Mighty Mike book coming out soon!
