Recap The Court

Jacob Smith

Jason Hurley is in his fifth season coaching the Laurentian Voyageurs Women’s Basketball program and under his tenure a culture of initiative, family and care has grown and made the team one of the most unique. I recently spent a weekend with the Voyageurs women’s basketball program, going along with them on a road trip and a home game following, and there are some things I took away from my time with the team.

The first is the team’s proactiveness when it comes to making sure they stay on schedule and make the most out of their time together. In what has come routine, according to guard Megan Axiak, the players don’t need told what their next team event is or what to do when it starts, if you walk into the gym before practice you’ll often find the players already started without any of the coaching staff.

Off the court, the proactiveness and initiative of the players spans to their own individual preparation as they often gather for their own player-run film sessions, going over what they see and what they believe their responsibilities will be the following game.

The players want to make the most out of their time, and as a result of that, they often spend a lot of time together, which requires making sure there’s still time left for their own health, which leads me to my next takeaway. The Laurentian Voyageurs are a very tight knit group, they see each other almost seven days a week from practices during the week, to meetings on Thursday night, to mindfulness and mental health sessions on Sunday where they take time to make sure their head is in the right place, to truly make the most of their time as a varsity athlete.

Every week, Cole Giffin leads the Voyageurs team through exercises to better their team cohesion and mental health, with activities like a thought jar meant to bring players closer together to each other and their own mind. Fifth year Melanie Cloutier says the sessions really help her get on the same page. “Coming from class or wherever we are, we all do that together and we’re all on the same page for practice.”

Another aspect of team building for Laurentian is through a heavy emphasis on road trips due to their location. “Coming from a different program and further down south, everything was closer,” Melanie emphasized, “you have fewer longer trips but here almost every away game is a long trip so every bus ride and the two or three days you’re there are definitely a good time for team bonding.”

Laurentian’s team bonding and player-led style has created a chemistry on the court that is hard to replicate, where players play for each other and know exactly how one another are feeling in different situations. Prevalent in just their weekend against Nipissing, it was obvious in their second game how everyone came together to ensure they would get a win, and how they fought for each other and made sure they were all in the best place to do their best on the floor.