{"id":716736,"date":"2026-06-21T04:22:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/716736\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T04:22:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T04:22:20","slug":"ace-dybantsas-kids-describe-their-dad-as-strict-and-protective-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/716736\/","title":{"rendered":"Ace Dybantsa\u2019s kids describe their dad as \u2018strict and protective\u2019 \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a little more than a week, former BYU basketball superstar AJ Dybantsa<\/a> will begin searching for a place to live next, depending on which NBA team selects him in Tuesday\u2019s draft. <\/p>\n

Will it be in Washington, D.C., home of the No. 1 pick-holding Wizards?<\/p>\n

Will it be in Salt Lake City, about 40 minutes away from his current living quarters<\/a> in Provo, where the Utah Jazz have the No. 2 pick?<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not care less. I just want to be the No. 1 pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0AJ Dybantsa on his preferred NBA destination<\/p>\n

Wherever it is, one thing is certain: Dybantsa\u2019s family will be right there with him, particularly his father, Anicet \u201cAce\u201d Dybantsa Sr., and his mother, Chelsea Hudson Dybantsa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could not care less,\u201d AJ told the Deseret News on May 29<\/a> when he was asked which NBA franchise and city would be his preference to play for and in. \u201cI just want to be the No. 1 pick.\u201d<\/p>\n

A day before that, Ace Dybantsa had echoed the same sentiments, while adding this prediction: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter to us; we will be living with him, or near him, at his request.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s illustrative of how tight the bond is between father and son, and how involved in AJ\u2019s life and basketball career<\/a> Ace has been, is, and plans to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my full-time job,\u201d said Ace, a former campus police officer at Boston University near the family\u2019s hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts. \u201cI \u2018retired\u2019 two years ago to do this. AJ told us two years ago, \u2018I don\u2019t want to live alone when I turn pro.\u2019 I said, \u2018Oh, don\u2019t worry, as long as you get us an in-law (apartment), so you can have your privacy, yeah, we will be there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Who is Ace Dybantsa?<\/p>\n

Anybody who has spent even 15 minutes around AJ knows the 6-foot-4, 59-year-old former junior college soccer goalie with the diamond earrings, the gleaming bald head, the impeccable sense for fashion (when he\u2019s not decked out in BYU-logo sweats) and the unwavering management of his son, a basketball prodigy going on a decade now.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a good job of just being there, making a lot of sacrifices, obviously, since Day 1, just taking me to practices, games, camps, all that,\u201d AJ said. \u201cI\u2019ve traveled around the world with him. He\u2019s my full-time manager. Most of all, he\u2019s super strict and straightforward. He just tells me the truth. Doesn\u2019t sugarcoat anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AJAJ Dybantsa poses for a picture with his parents, Chelsea and Ace, during a visit to BYU’s campus on Oct. 11, 2024. | Nate Edwards <\/p>\n

Says Chelsea, AJ\u2019s mother: \u201cI would say Ace is the hardest-working man I have ever met. He is all about family and making sure he is taking care of his family. He is very dedicated, loves the kids. He pushes the kids in education, and also in sports. That\u2019s who he is and what he\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parents have not just been successful with AJ, which has been well documented. Their oldest daughter, 22-year-old Samarra, just graduated from UMass-Boston with a degree in psychology and is headed to graduate school. Their third child, 17-year-old Jasmyn, is a standout volleyball player at Lone Peak High in Alpine, Utah, and plans to return to the Utah prep sports powerhouse this fall for her senior year.<\/p>\n

Featuring Ace Dybantsa before Father\u2019s Day<\/p>\n

Every June, the Deseret News profiles a father in the Utah sports community, a dad who has either produced and reared an impactful person in the Utah sports community, or is one himself.<\/p>\n

Ace Dybantsa is the Deseret News\u2019 unofficial Utah Sports Father of the Year in 2026, joining the likes of other fathers we\u2019ve featured in past years before Father\u2019s Day, men such as former Utah and Utah State men\u2019s basketball coach Craig Smith<\/a>, Draper\u2019s Mike Wilson<\/a> (father of Zach, Whitney, Josh, Micah, Sophie and Isaac), Tom Sitake (father of Kalani) and Ferrell Hill<\/a>, father of former BYU defensive coordinator Jay Hill, who is now at Michigan.<\/p>\n

Last year, our choice was BYU basketball coach Kevin Young<\/a>, who said during our interview in June 2025 that his own father (Phil Young), BYU assistant Chris Burgess<\/a> or Ace Dybantsa would make a good candidate in 2026.<\/p>\n

So here we are, honoring the proud father of three who will be joined in the \u201cGreen Room\u201d of the NBA draft on Tuesday, June 23, by AJ, Chelsea, Samarra, Jasmyn and the people AJ calls his godparents although he is not related to them, \u201cAuntie Danielle and Uncle Dexter.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the exception of Samarra, who stayed in Boston to finish her schooling, the Dybantsas have lived in Utah the past two years, the first year in Hurricane while AJ attended and played for Utah Prep, and the second one in north Utah County as AJ became a consensus All-American<\/a> and National Player of the Year candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad to take care of this 6-foot-9 kid of mine,\u201d Ace said, displaying his wry sense of humor. \u201cSomeone has got to take care of him. I can\u2019t even add up (the number of hours a week he spends on matters relating to his son). I am dead serious. I am his dad, I am his manager, I am his security, I am his disciplinarian. I am everything.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa and his father, Ace Dybantsa, walk through the Delta Center after BYU played Wisconsin in a men’s basketball game in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News \u2018AJ\u2019s not my friend\u2019 \u2014 Ace Dybantsa <\/p>\n

AJ had his own place near BYU this past year, but says he \u201cnever went a single day\u201d without talking to his father. Do they ever argue?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we disagree about some stuff, but it is never really like, super, super, super crazy,\u201d AJ said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to make him proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider that goal accomplished, although Ace continues to practice \u201ctough love,\u201d in the words of teenage daughter Jasmyn, and is harder on AJ and more truthful regarding his basketball progress than anybody, including BYU head coach Kevin Young<\/a>. Young is biggest reason why AJ picked BYU over the likes of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Kentucky coming out of high school.<\/p>\n

What was Ace\u2019s strictest rule?<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many to pick from, really,\u201d said AJ, who hopes to get married and be a father himself someday. \u201cI can\u2019t really give you just one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding their relationship, Ace bristles when it is suggested that they are best friends because they spend so much time together.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no, no. He\u2019s not my best friend,\u201d Ace said, adamantly. \u201cSome people see it like that. He\u2019s not my friend. I\u2019m his dad. Please get that straight. I tell him stuff, difficult stuff, that most people don\u2019t tell him. Why? Because I\u2019m not his friend, plain and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the secret to being a good father?<\/p>\n

\u201cHard work, and discipline,\u201d Ace said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a secret. From the day they are born, you have to instill hard work, discipline, accountability and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of hard work, that includes working at home. The family home has always included a \u201cchore chart,\u201d Ace said, and AJ has always been on it.<\/p>\n

From Republic of Congo, to France, to Boston, to Provo <\/p>\n

As was chronicled in November 2025 by the Deseret News<\/a>, Ace was born in the Republic of Congo, then sent by his father, Joachim, to France to live with his brother when he was 13 so he could get a better education. In 1989, he moved to Boston and played soccer for Massasoit College in Massachusetts before meeting Chelsea Hudson, who had also left her birth country when she was 13, having lived in Hanover, Jamaica, with her grandmother. <\/p>\n

Ace and Chelsea started talking about having kids \u2014 three kids, exactly \u2014 before they were married. \u201cI always knew I was going to be a father, and wanted to be a father,\u201d Ace said. \u201cMy own dad passed away in 1992, 34 years ago. I remember everything he taught me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those teachings included respecting one\u2019s elders, never talking back to them and being disciplined in school, sports, church or whatever. Ace calls himself a Catholic; Chelsea describes herself as a Christian.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Ace Dybantsa applauds as BYU and his son, AJ Dybantsa, play Wisconsin in a men’s basketball game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere I\u2019m from, if you acted up in front of your dad, you got your (rear end) whupped,\u201d Ace said. \u201cYou got the belt. You can\u2019t do that here in America, but there is no such thing as child abuse back in the Congo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides watching and participating in sports, or heading out to Water Country, a water park in New Hampshire, or to Disney World in Orlando, or traveling around the globe, the family doesn\u2019t do a lot together, according to Samarra. She said AJ\u2019s rise to prominence has meant they aren\u2019t together as often as they would like, but when they are, \u201cwe make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do sports all the time,\u201d Ace said. \u201cWe don\u2019t play cards or board games. I am working all the time, wheeling and dealing, taking calls, attending meetings. I don\u2019t have time to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

After BYU\u2019s season ended in mid-March with an NCAA Tournament first-round loss<\/a> to Texas, AJ and Ace lived in Los Angeles beginning April 10 and participated in predraft workouts and flew to the NBA combine in Chicago for a few days. The family reunited in Boston the last weekend in May for Samarra\u2019s graduation, then AJ and Ace flew to Paris to watch the French Open and other events, and to conduct more business with AJ\u2019s \u201cpartners\u201d \u2014 Red Bull, Nike, Fanatics and others.<\/p>\n

AJ counts American tennis star Frances Tiafoe Jr. among his many famous friends, and Ace had a meeting planned with Candi and Corey Gauff \u2014 parents of 2023 U.S. Open and 2025 French Open champion Coco Gauff.<\/p>\n

AJ\u2019s sisters are his biggest fans\"\"AJ Dybantsa, center, poses for a photo with his family, including mother Chelsea, father Ace and sisters Samarra and Jasmyn. | Courtesy Dybantsa family <\/p>\n

Ace Dybantsa acknowledges that one of the tough aspects of his two-year managing of AJ\u2019s career is that he doesn\u2019t get to spend enough time with Samarra and Jasmyn. As Father\u2019s Day approached, he said he\u2019s \u201cnot a big materialist\u201d and that a simple hug from each of his children will suffice, along with the usual homemade card.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not grinding through a basketball season, AJ \u201clikes to sleep, or watch film,\u201d Ace said. \u201cWhen the whole family is there, he loves to hang out with his sisters. They are his best friends. That\u2019s what you dream about for your kids. You hope they get along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ace isn\u2019t the type of father who jokes around a lot, or tells dad jokes, AJ says, noting that every once in a while something funny will \u201cpop up\u201d on his social media feeds and he will share it with whoever is around.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe assumes he is funny, but he\u2019s not that funny,\u201d AJ said.<\/p>\n

Ace Dybantsa\u2019s daughters on his discipline<\/p>\n

Protective and strict. That\u2019s how Samarra describes her father, and moments later Jasmyn chooses those exact same words. Then, when asked for an example, Jasmyn notes that her dad will take away her cellphone at times, or make them exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made us do pushups every day for like 10 years,\u201d Jasmyn said. \u201cThere\u2019s a space between our kitchen and living room, and there is a camera pointing right at it, and we had to do 100 pushups. That was our routine \u2014 every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jasmyn remembers Ace teaching his daughters self-defense techniques, which is what she means when she says he is protective.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always told us to stand our ground and not be weak,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ace Dybantsa talks to coaches while waiting outside the locker room for his son, BYU Cougars forward AJ Dybantsa, after BYU played Wisconsin in a men’s basketball game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News <\/p>\n

Occasionally, Ace will let his guard down, she said, like the time the family went to Disney World and Ace \u201cwent on all the roller coasters,\u201d including Space Mountain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that was fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jasmyn is listed as a 6-foot middle blocker on Lone Peak\u2019s volleyball roster.<\/p>\n

Samarra said that while Ace \u201cmaybe sometimes was a little too strict,\u201d she understood it was \u201cjust out of the love in his heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

She ran track in high school, but didn\u2019t take it as seriously as AJ took basketball, and hung up her running shoes when she enrolled in college, and he was named the Massachusetts Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year after his freshman season at St. Sebastian\u2019s School in Needham.<\/p>\n

AJ\u2019s mom weighs in<\/p>\n

Chelsea Dybantsa is obviously proud of what AJ has accomplished in basketball, but she is even more proud of the way he embraced the unique culture at BYU<\/a> \u2014 which is supported by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints \u2014 and continued to flourish in the classroom.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat acceptance of other cultures and faiths comes from both Ace and I, because we came from a family-oriented culture. I grew up with my grandmother and grandfather, and Ace grew up with both his parents,\u201d Chelsea said. \u201cWe always taught our kids to respect each other, respect others and love one another. That is just how we raised them. It is how we were raised, and we wanted to see that in our kids, once we had them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, Chelsea says when they were dating, Ace mentioned that he wanted three kids, and she agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stuck with three,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is all I wanted, too. No more than that. Too much work.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was thrilled when AJ promised to get his degree from BYU within three or four years after he declared for the NBA draft on April 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat felt wonderful. That is all I asked for, and he knows that. He knows that I always think you need to have a backup. He needs to graduate,\u201d Chelsea said. \u201cWhen AJ started to know that he was going to get far in basketball, he talked about wanting to join the G League. I said, \u2018Absolutely not, you gotta go to school. You gotta go to college.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want him to finish at BYU, and that was kind of a tug-of-war in the house,\u201d she continued. \u201cOnce AJ promised me that he will get his degree, I was like, \u2018OK, you can declare. But getting your degree is a must.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As for AJ\u2019s dad, Chelsea described her husband as a father who made many sacrifices<\/a> when the kids were young so that they could have a better life than he did growing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he was a cop, sometimes he worked double shifts. He would go in at midnight and not come home until after 4 p.m., and then would get a few hours of sleep, and then go back again,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has always wanted to make sure his family is well taken care of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"AJ Dybantsa\u2019s father, Ace, center looks on during the first half of the game between BYU and the Kansas State Wildcats during the 2026 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a little more than a week, former BYU basketball superstar AJ Dybantsa will begin searching for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,8793,99],"class_list":["post-716736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-news-feed-national","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}