Love, family, basketball

The father would get home from work, ready to unwind after another day as a probation officer, ready to pick up a basketball and get his shots in, his daily fix.

The mother, at home all day with their firstborn, was ready for a break.

She would ask. He would never say no. So, the father would pick up the girl, cradling two of the things he cherished more than almost anything else in this world, and head out the door, ready to hoop.

She would be strapped to his torso as he began to shoot, her ear to his chest. And she would hear it, internalize the sound, the rhythm. Thump, thump, thump.

Was it his heart? Was it the ball being bounced on the pavement? It didn't matter. There was never any separating the two in David Simental's mind. The latter had won over the former long, long ago.

If you go to Saturday's Lady Griz game, Montana against Northern Colorado, you'll see the extended results of that love, not just of family but of the game.

On Montana's bench will be Haley, that firstborn, who is in her first year as the Lady Griz program's director of operations, a non-coaching position that can be a springboard for future opportunities.

She spent four star-crossed years on the team at Denver, then used redshirt seasons and the COVID allowance to play three more at Nebraska-Kearney, where she wrapped up her career last spring.

Hannah, Northern Colorado's leading scorer and one of the nation's top shooters from both the free throw line and 3-point arc, will be top of mind for everyone on Montana's bench.

For Haley, she can't remember the last time she was able to see her sister play in person. It was years and years ago, the girls playing conflicting schedules on different teams in different cities over and over.

For the coaches sitting next to her, they'll be more focused on stopping the player than worrying about any family dynamics.

"It's pretty obvious what you have to do. Just don't let her touch the ball if you want to have a chance to win," says Haley.

And if she gets it and has a clean look? Just cross your fingers and hope she misses? "Pretty much. Or put me on her. I'm probably the only one who could stop her, but I'm retired now."

The mother, Tanya, will be in Dahlberg Arena, making the trip north from the family's home in Pueblo, Colo. David? He's got his own basketball concerns as coach of the Pueblo West girls' team.

The other David, the son who came along after Haley and before Hannah? He'll be in Durango, Colo., on Saturday, the leading scorer for Division II Regis, which plays a night game at Fort Lewis.

It's enough to make a father's heart swell, how his children have taken his love of basketball and embraced it over the years, made it their own and used it to create lives for themselves.

"Basketball has been our way of life for so long. It's been quite a blessing for me, because I love this game a lot," he says.

"To have my kids love it, where I don't have to push it on them, what a blessing for me. What a dream for me."

He's big on dreams, David Simental is, on dreaming the biggest, grandest, most outlandish thing you can think of. Then getting to work to accomplish it, knowing the first will never happen without the second.

"You know what they say. Dreamers are the ones who create magic," he says. "In order to create magic, you have to dream. If you don't dream, the magic is never going to happen."

It's one thing to have a life belief, maybe taken from something that's been read and then tried on to see if it fits. And if it doesn't? It's just as easy to shrug it off and try something else.

It's quite another when it's hard-wired in, passed down from his own father to son, this idea of never giving up, never giving in, the idea that hard work overcomes all.

After all, his kids didn't hit the genetic lottery. Haley is 5-foot-8. So is Hannah. David, the younger? A bit over six-foot.

"They are not gifted with athletic bodies, but they are gifted with this idea that you can't outwork us. And they go after it," the father says. "My kids, they're dreamers."

Before his own father, Patrocinio, or Pat for short, passed away, David Simental made sure to interview him, to learn the story of how this all came to be.

How Pat had tried to leave Mexico with his family by seeking the American Dream across the border. He was captured and sent home. So, he tried again. And he was sent back to Mexico again.

And repeat and repeat.

"It came from my father, bringing us to America. He had this never-give-up attitude. He has an amazing life story," says David.

"He'd get picked up by Immigration. He'd get deported. He'd come right back, get deported. He'd come right back, get deported."

Until the family, two parents, seven kids, landed for good in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

"He had this I-don't-give-up mentality. That's how he lived. He was a role model for his kids," says David. "We just picked up the belief that there is nothing you can't do if you work really hard.

"You might not reach the dream, but you'll get a lot farther than you ever thought."

The family lived in Mexico when David was seven, eight and nine. It was a hand-to-mouth existence.

"Our dad made our house out of mud and rocks. It was a mud hut," he recalls. "We had some cattle. I went to school for maybe two months of the year. A lot of times I didn't even have shoes."

So, when the family had finally settled in Cheyenne, Pat retained that mentality, that work could overcome anything and lead to the American Dream. Education was kids stuff.

David's older brother was a hooper, which trickled down to his younger brother, a love of the game that never left. He was good enough that colleges wanted him to come play for their school, for their team.

Pat wasn't having it. A young man of 18 was ready for the real world. He didn't need more school.

"Education, when you come from a different culture, isn't really emphasized," David says. "When my brother got a few offers, our dad said, no, no, you need to get to work.

"You're done with this school thing. You need to get a job. He convinced my mom to talk to my dad to let him to go Central Wyoming (College)."

What they came to learn about their new home: it's education that opens the biggest doors to your dreams. It's the hard work that gets you through and to the other side.

David followed in his brother's footsteps, played at Central Wyoming, then at Lewis-Clark State in upstate Idaho.

He used basketball to earn his degree, which he turned into a career as a probation officer, first in Boise, then in Denver. Today he's the chief probation officer for Colorado's 10th judicial district in Pueblo.

"Basketball gave me a college degree for free. It's not free. You have to work for it, but I probably would not have gone to college if not for basketball," he says.

Is it money? Is it that second home? Is it the luxury car parked in the driveway? That may be the American Dream for some. Others have their own definition. It's all a matter of perspective.

"To come to America, what a dream," David says. "I'm the chief probation officer here. Who would have thought? I get to lead a department of 50 people. Who would have thought?

"But when you dream big and you go after it and do things right, good things happen. What a blessing to be here and to live in this country and get to do the things we get to do.

"My kids are playing basketball and getting their educations for free. Are you kidding me? Where else can that happen? That round ball has given us lots. This is the best country in the world."

He met Tanya, a total non-hooper, at least in her previous life, at Central Wyoming. They got married after he finished at Lewis-Clark State and she graduated from Boise State.

They eventually landed in Denver, where he sought out every pick-up game he could find, any league that allowed a guy to keep balling.

Then along came Haley, and he had to open his heart for more, discover more love to give. They took her home from the hospital in a Nuggets jersey. "That was me," David says. "That was me."

As soon as they arrived home, David's brother was calling. Are you back? Are you ready? They were playing in a 4-on-4 tournament, and David had already missed a few of his team's games.

He kept playing and he kept taking her along, securing her behind the team bench where his teammates could keep an eye on her and keep her safe from any wayward balls.

Then she was tagging along. Then she was picking up a ball on the side and falling in love with it on her own.

"I always loved being in the gym and spending time with my dad," says Haley. "There was just something about the gym. My dad loved basketball, so we were just always around it."

The family grew. David came home from the delivery unit in a Broncos jersey. By the time No. 3 arrived, Tanya had had enough. Hannah went home in pink.

Then, the promotion to Pueblo and the house that had the basement, which soon had the industrial-grade Nerf hoop. Haley was nine.

"Haley was older at the time, so she would really pound on the other two. She is one of the most competitive kids ever," David says. "She would just take it to David.

"As they got older, sometimes I'd have to get between them because it would get so competitive." What he says next is quite instructive. "A lot of great memories."

There was a five-year age gap between the girls. That was of little concern to big sister. As soon as Hannah could walk, she could be dunked on.

"We'd always have to convince my sister to play. She'd get upset when we played too hard," says Haley. "She was the youngest and the smallest, so she took a beating sometimes."

There is some disagreement within the family about Hannah's turning away from basketball and towards ballet.

Some suggest the basement Nerf games were too much, that they drove her toward something safer. Others claim she was just following her mom, herself a ballerina and a lover of theater.

"(The Nerf games) could have been part of it, but honestly it was because my mom did it and I wanted to be like my mom," Hannah says.

The decision would put David to the test. What? No basketball? A dream that didn't have a hoop, a bouncing ball? He aced it.

"I think I broke my dad's heart, but he was so supportive. He built me a ballet bar in my room. He put up a mirror. He built a floor that I was able to put away when I didn't need it," Hannah says.

"He was super supportive. Then when I went back to basketball, he was excited. He was supportive either way, which I was blessed to have."

She was good at ballet. Really good. Good enough that they had to start looking at options beyond Pueblo, like leaving home for advanced training.

It would have been another part of the American Dream but love of family had much deeper roots, a much stronger hold on her. After sixth grade, she dropped ballet and picked up a basketball. For good.

It was that multiple year break from the game that is the primary reason she can shoot like she can now, eighth in the nation in free throw percentage, 14th in 3-point field goal percentage in her junior year.

When she returned to the sport, she was old enough and strong enough to pick up the proper shooting mechanics. She had no bad habits because she hadn't played enough to develop any.

David had a blank tablet.

They began slowly. After her freshman year at Pueblo West, she was ready for more. She went to him and said, okay, dad, I have to get a lot better.

Every morning, they would leave home at 5:30 for the YMCA, where they had the court to themselves. Tanya rebounded, set screens, defended, whatever was needed. It was a family affair.

"Form shooting, then threes, then ball drills. That's all we did, an hour, an hour and 15 minutes for six months," says David. "That next year she became deadly."

It was to Hannah's benefit that Haley was out of the house and that David, the younger, was soon heading to MSU Billings to play his freshman season.

"I got to spend a lot of time with Hannah because she was home for three years after David left," he says. "Before, I split my time with all three. Then it was just Hannah and me."

They became the end result of David's love for basketball and the family's drive, their belief that hard work conquers all.

"Haley and David are hard core. They never stop. I never had to push them. If anything, I had to tell them to slow down. They'll just grind and grind.

"Haley, poor thing, she grinded so hard her body is kind of beat up because of it. She's had numerous surgeries. She squeezed everything she had."

The family had a long enough driveway that they had not just one hoop but two. Not technically a full court but enough for two kids to dream it was wherever their imaginations could take them.

"My brother and I would do things like, you've got five seconds left and you're down two," says Haley. "We'd play imaginary defenders or each other. We didn't need a bunch of other people."

There was another hoop out back, the one David would sneak out to during the day.

You see, the kids were home-schooled, their place of study in the basement, and if one of the dogs just happened to break the screen, what more of an invitation did a boy need?

"We'd open the window and sneak out and go play. My brother did it a lot more than me and my sister. My mom thought we were doing homework. I think she ignored it and let us shoot," says Haley.

They all played at Pueblo West. Fun exercise: Look through the school's record book and count up how many entries are not held by a Simental. There aren't many.

David was the 2016 Colorado Prep Basketball Player of the Year, Hannah the 2020 Colorado High School Activities Association Class 4A Player of the Year.

"Haley was a Chris Paul. She could see the floor like no one else," says David. "Her court vision was something that came natural to her. She could throw dimes.

"She could score but not like Hannah. Hannah can light it up. Then my son is just a scorer. He can flat-out light it up."

David, the younger, spent one season at MSU Billings, opted to leave after getting injured five games in and a coaching change.

He spent one year at Central Wyoming, then two at CSU Pueblo. He scored 42 points as a redshirt sophomore against Fort Lewis, 48 the next season at Westminster.

He transferred to Nebraska-Kearney for one season, Haley's final year at the school, and is now capping his collegiate career at Regis.

To put in perspective how long Haley's collegiate career was, consider this: her freshman season as a Denver Pioneer was 2015-16. And a year ago at this time, January 2022, she was still playing as a Loper.

In other words, had Denver played Montana when she was a freshman, she would have seen Robin Selvig on the Lady Griz bench.

The lessons she learned along the way – and they were innumerable – are ones she'll take into coaching and be better because of it.

She played just three games as a freshman before being sidelined with a season-ending injury. She played in all 30 games as a sophomore, then missed the entire 2017-18 season with another injury.

As a senior she played in 30 of the team's 32 games as Denver made the WNIT, but she was a distant reserve, playing just seven minutes per game.

She scored 52 points on the season. Her lone start was on Senior Night. She was given seven minutes of court time as a reward for her service to the program.

It was a week earlier, in Denver's game at North Dakota, that she had her most impressionable moment as a Pioneer.

After playing just three prior minutes, which came in the first half, she subbed into the game with 21 seconds left in regulation because of foul trouble. Denver trailed by one.

North Dakota hit two free throws to go up 78-75 two seconds later, giving Denver the ball with a chance to tie. The play that was called broke down and Simental got the ball with a second or two on the clock.

She let fly a long 3-pointer. Good. Overtime. The Pioneers would pull out the win, 92-91.

"That shot is something I'm most proud of because of how hard I worked for four years just to be able to be on the court and then the mental preparation to be ready for that moment," she says.

"It can be hard to stay engaged when you're a bench player. I knew if the coach called on me, I wanted to be ready."

She scored 167 points in four years at Denver, playing in 63 games over four seasons.

"My time at DU was hard, but that one shot made it worth it and painted a bigger picture for me, that it's not about the stats but about the heart behind the hard work," she says.

"Basketball has taught me a lot, about perseverance and never giving up. What I gained from my time at DU and what I was able to accomplish, I was really proud of."

She started all but three games the last three seasons at Nebraska-Kearney, which made the NCAA Division II national tournament in 2021 and '22. She totaled 281 assists, leading the Lopes to 73 wins.

She was going to work as a student assistant coach at Nebraska-Kearney this season until she landed the director of operations position at Montana.

From her seven years as a college basketball player, she knew what the schedule would be like but she had no idea what had gone on behind the scenes when she was a Pioneer, then a Loper.

"I didn't know what to expect. The schedule isn't that surprising, but all the logistics are pretty crazy," she says. "It's been a good learning experience discovering all the things that go into it.

"I've learned a lot about hotels and flights and the logistics of recruiting and just feeding the players and trying to make sure everybody has what they need so everyone can get on the court.

"There is a lot more that goes into it than you realize when you're playing."

Montana coach Brian Holsinger didn't have a director of operations in 2021-22, his first season leading the Lady Griz.

He brought Simental on in August, not quite knowing what to expect himself. What he's learned should come as no surprise.

"Haley has an unbelievable work ethic. You ask her to do something and it's done like that," he says with accompanying finger snap. "It's been fun to get to know her and get to see her grow.

"Being the director of ops gives you a different perspective from going from playing to easing your way into coaching. I think her eyes are wide open to all this entails, which is good.

"She'll be a very good coach. She's hard-nosed and very direct, which is a great thing as a coach. And then she has things she's working on. My goal for her is to help her become that coach."

Playing the Nike circuit for Colorado Premier, the club started by ex-NBA player Keith Van Horn, and excelling, Hannah had her pick from a long list of colleges that wanted her particular skill set.

She chose Northern Colorado, just two and a half hours from Pueblo.

She scored 16 points in her third game as a Bear, in 2020-21, and began her collegiate career hitting five of her first 10 attempts from the arc. She was the team's third-leading scorer as a freshman.

Last season, as a sophomore, she hit 71 3-pointers, averaged a team-high 14.7 points and was voted second-team All-Big Sky Conference.

In two and a half seasons, she has gone 150 for 342 (.439) from the arc, 195 for 218 (.894) from the free throw line.

That's what Montana and her older sister are up against on Saturday.

"I'm really excited," says Hannah, who has averaged 17 points in three career games against Montana. She missed her team's game at Dahlberg Arena last season. Saturday will be her Missoula debut.

"I don't think my sister has seen me play in person in I don't know how long. I'm just excited to see her."

It's her older sister who will be walking the finer line. Haley wants Hannah to do well, but she also wants, at the end of the day, for the Lady Griz to come away victorious.

"I haven't seen her play at all in college, so I'm really grateful I'm going to see her play and get to be a part of a game where Hannah is getting shots up and competing," says Haley.

"She's my sister and I want her to do really well. I love seeing her play basketball and be part of something I've been really proud of as a Simental, just being a hooper and competing and having fun.

"She's one of the best players in the league and plays with a lot of heart and is competitive. I'm proud of her. She earns what she gets. That's what Simentals do."

True.

University of Montana Athletics

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