BLOG 32: Simonetti making the transition to college ball at Ferris

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris women’s basketball player Chelsea Simonetti (14) handles the ball as she is being pressured by a Wayne State defender during a home game earlier this season in Jim Wink Arena (Photo/Sandy Gholston)

BIG RAPIDS – Chelsea Simonetti has proven to be an excellent addition to head coach Tracey Dorow’s Ferris State University’s women’s basketball team.

Simonetti’s path to Ferris has been a bit of a wild one (with highs and lows), but there are a lot of people happy to see her wearing the Bulldogs’ crimson and gold colors. Chief among the people happiest to see her suiting up for Ferris and playing basketball is: Chelsea Simonetti. She has battled back to the hardwood from two ACL tears (one as freshman in high school and the other as a freshman in college), transferred from Division I Western Michigan University (after playing one season) to Ferris and, best of all, was married to Dave Simonetti, who is serving in Active Duty Army deployed in Iraq (Chelsea is looking forward to her husband’s return home in October).

In addition to all that, Simonetti is enrolled in FSU’s Television and Digital Media Productions program and she has emerged as the Bulldogs’ starting point guard. In other words, she is working to keep the student in student-athlete, too.

“It was kind of a slow transition for me at first,” Simonetti said. “I was getting used to being at a new school and getting to know the girls on our team. I think it helped I was able to come to some open gyms to be able to get to know the team a little better. That definitely helped me a lot. I became a lot more confident and a lot more comfortable with the team.”

Simonetti, a native of Olivet, enjoyed a brilliant high-school basketball career. She ended her prep days as the Michigan High School Athletic Association career leader in steals (274), she owned the state record for steals in a season (254) and was a two-time finalist for the Associated Press Class C Player of the Year honor. Then known as Chelsea Ciba, Simonetti was heavily recruited by Ferris, but ended up pursuing a Division I basketball opportunity at Western.

Simonetti played in 12 games for the Broncos before an ACL tear ended her season. She sat out the 2007-08 season, and ultimately transferred to Ferris to resume her basketball career this season.

“Coming back from an ACL tear is tough … it definitely has been difficult to come back from those,” said Simonetti, who is averaging 4.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.55 assists as she has started 13 of 20 games. “But, I am glad to be back playing basketball and doing whatever I can to help our team be successful.”

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com