Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Kayla Deschatelets is an assistant coach with the Laurentian Voyageurs women’s basketball program under head coach Jason Hurley, and her journey to get there is one of unrelenting passion and desire to maintain the highest standard.

The Start

In Elementary School, Kayla’s basketball team was held for strictly grade seven and eight, but her desire for the sport alongside her friend Mini, pushed that standard to change, and they made the team a year early. A year of elementary basketball left Kayla unsure if she wanted to continue, but in August leading up to her grade seven year, the sport took on a new meaning for her.

The passing of her dad prior to entering grade seven had Kayla wanting something to help her move forward and keep her motivated, and the sport of basketball became that outlet. A conversation with her mom about wanting to use the sport to help her heal pushed her to keep playing, eventually leading to her journey through OFSAA and the OUA.

Timmins Select

As Kayla entered High School and OFSAA, she started bringing in accomplishment after accomplishment, and the superstar in Timmins was becoming more and more notable. A 2012 U15 MVP, 2014 U17 MVP and 2015 U19 MVP, Kayla was seen as one of the stars of Timmins, and that connection with her city and the North played an important role in her path throughout the OUA which would come in 2016.

Going into the 2016-2017 season, Kayla was done with Timmins Select and OFSAA, and was ready to take the next step. Throughout High School, Kayla always knew she was going to take the next step in her basketball career. She was going to get her degree and keep playing and most importantly prove to her family and city that she lives up to the expectations set on her and the high standard she’s held to.

Rep the North

What better way to live up to the standard and expectations and proudly represent her city than staying in the North, and that along with her relationship with head coach Jason Hurley, made her post-secondary decision even more simple, landing her with the Laurentian Voyageurs.

Prior to her arrival, Laurentian was looked at as an underdog who didn’t make playoffs, and with that came an opportunity to, in her words, “stay in the North, represent the North, and build something”.

Now the Timmins native was staying in the North, and was a starting guard for the Laurentian Voyageurs. Playing in 17 games and starting all of them in her rookie season, Kayla took the reigns of the Voyageurs and strived to do something that didn’t happen very regularly, prove that a rookie can become a consistent starter and a key contributor on a OUA team, it didn’t have to be an older veteran.

A statement is what she made, playing 29.4 minutes per game and averaging nine points per game, Kayla made the OUA All-Rookie team to start off her career, and amidst a long core of primarily first, second and third years on the Voyageurs roster, Kayla stood out as someone to watch in the OUA.

Going into her second year, the young core had grown closer thanks to the team building focus they had in the 2016 season, but they were under new leadership, something that took Kayla time to try to adjust to. “The player-head coach relationship was really important for me, so it was difficult to really adjust during that year”, Kayla said of her experience during the 2017-2018 season. Under a new head coach while coach Hurley was on leave, Kayla found it difficult to have the same drive she had a year ago and play for someone new like she had been playing for coach Hurley.

Suddenly being thrown into a new style with a new voice leading the team, and because of the value she put onto the player and head coach relationship, Kayla wasn’t sure if this was something she wanted to continue with, especially with the question about whether her head coach who brought her in would be back.

After a year where she played 18 games, shot a career high 47 per cent from the field, playing 22.5 minutes per game, Kayla was left with a lot of questions, and it wasn’t until a late conversation with coach Hurley and reassurance that he would be back, that she was able to reaffirm herself of where she was headed.

Now refocused, Kayla went into the 2018-2019 season relieved, refocused, but with some work to do. Now having to readjust back to Hurley’s system after a year of change, Kayla did her best to smooth the cracks, putting up career highs in minutes per game, points per game and rebounds per game. She started all 20 games she played, again proving daily her importance to this Voyageurs squad, shooting 41 per cent from the field while averaging 12.7 points per game and 4.5 rebounds per game. The Voyageurs made playoffs during the 2018-19 season losing in the first round after a 7-16 regular season.

A Forced Transition

As the 2019-2020 season unfolded, Kayla got her fourth concussion of her playing career, and it forced tough decisions and a transition to the next chapter of her life and basketball career. With the advice of doctors and understanding that life is larger than basketball, Kayla didn’t attempt to return to the court after her fourth concussion and prioritized her health and well being, putting an end to her playing career.

No longer playing with the Voyageurs, Kayla knew she wanted to continue to use what the game had given her, and over the next year she started a new avenue, focusing on the fitness side, and putting her degrees to use, connecting with players and helping them advance their lives as athletes.

KDBliss

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, the world including sports were put on hold, but Kayla’s passion for making an impact on the world of basketball didn’t stop. Trying to find a new avenue for her competitive drive, Kayla turned to fitness and devoting her time to working out, staying fit, and driving to be the best version of herself she can be.

Through her devotion to fitness, she started a fitness apparel website during the pandemic, kdbliss.com, which now sells 12 different products through Shopify. Originally a passion project, KD Bliss is now a full service website where Kayla helps others getting into fitness.

Personal Training

Alongside her venture into fitness apparel, Kayla also took her passion for sport and got certified as a personal trainer where she would accept individual clients throughout the pandemic and onwards. Both a separate income and an outlet for her athletic drive, Kayla submerged herself into training, and that devotion came into play when coaching appeared as a possibility going into the 2022-2023 OUA season.

Coaching

Prior to the 2022-2023 OUA basketball season, Kayla had been keeping in contact with coach Hurley, and in the midst of those conversations, the topic of Kayla becoming an assistant often came up. Though she never really saw coaching as the end goal during her playing career, the more she dove into fitness coaching and finding a way to be in sport outside of being a player, the idea sounded more and more appealing.

After watching practices, she joined coach Hurley’s staff and became an assistant coach with Laurentian Women’s Basketball for the 2022-2023 season. With Kayla’s understanding of the player side going into coaching, she came in with perspective of understanding that the game of basketball isn’t everything, and developing as people is just as important as developing as athletes.

Combining her degree in Sports Psych and her degree in Indigenous Social Work, Kayla applied her understanding of both the people and sports side of basketball, and gave Laurentian a connection between the players and coaches where both could be mutually understood and any clarification that was needed could be brought. If the players didn’t want to tell the coach something, Kayla provided that mediator to help both sides communicate, something she’s found especially useful with a male head coach on a women’s team.

“I definitely really enjoy being an assistant with Hurley, I want to continue being mentored by him”, Kayla said of her path moving forward after her first season as an assistant coach. “I enjoy being immersed into learning about coaching and styles, plus I always knew I wanted to be a part of Laurentian in some sort of way, sticking with the program, sticking with him and representing the North is important to me.”

Kayla continues to push for the highest standard. KDBliss, her personal training, her career in coaching, she’s always looking for ways to be better in any aspect. From Timmins Select, to a starter for the Laurentian basketball team, to a self-started business owner, to a coach, Kayla has been everywhere in the sports industry, and wherever she goes, she is always representing the North proudly.