Program uses basketball to empower youth with disabilities and break stigma
Bounce Out the Stigma is a program that focuses primarily on helping youth with invisible disabilities, including autism, ADHD, epilepsy and Down syndrome. The program provides basketball instruction while also encouraging confidence, teamwork and self-belief.
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A New Jersey man is turning his personal experience with epilepsy into a mission to help children with special needs feel seen, supported and empowered through basketball.
Bounce Out the Stigma was founded in 2005 by Mike Simmel after a life-changing experience at a basketball camp when he was a teenager.
“I’ve had epilepsy since the age of two, and when I was 16 years old, I was at a basketball camp, had a seizure at the camp and the camp had asked me to go home,” Simmel said. “My parents fought to keep me there. I stayed at the camp, and I always kept it in the back of my mind that if I was ever in a position to help kids with special needs, I was going to do it.”
That experience inspired Simmel to create a program where children with disabilities could feel included while learning basketball fundamentals and life lessons.
Bounce Out the Stigma is a program that focuses primarily on helping youth with invisible disabilities, including autism, ADHD, epilepsy and Down syndrome. The program provides basketball instruction while also encouraging confidence, teamwork and self-belief.
“We really try to focus on individual invisible disabilities,” Simmel said. “A lot of times these kids don’t have programs for them and they have nowhere to go. We want to be that program.”
The camps teach participants how to dribble, shoot and pass, while also helping them develop important life skills.
“They really feel like they can do whatever they want, as long as they believe in themselves and work hard,” Simmel said.
The organization now serves more than 1,000 youth each year and operates programs across the country with the help of volunteers and coaches.
“All these kids here want to be here,” said assistant coach Bob Azzolino. “You can see it on their faces - how much they enjoy it and how much they’re learning and improving as well.”
Parents say the environment gives children a place where they can truly be themselves.
“It’s a space they feel comfortable with and they feel like themselves,” said Amanda Tanis, whose child participates in the program. “There’s no reason to feel judged or anything like that.”
What began as a personal mission has grown into a nationally recognized program. Bounce Out the Stigma has operated in more than 25 states and was named Junior NBA National Program of the Year in 2019. Simmel was also named Junior Knicks Coach of the Year in 2024.
The organization works with several NBA teams, nonprofits and corporate partners, and Simmel has also written children’s books centered around inclusion and perseverance, with his most recent publication "Never Give Up."
Bounce Out the Stigma hosts camps throughout the year for youth ages 7 to 21.
“It’s an honor and a blessing to work with families and kids and show them that limits don’t define you - you define your limits,” Simmel said.
