Pursuit is sports feature series highlighting Athletes, Coaches and Staff from North Bay and the surrounding area.
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She was a member of the inaugural Nipissing Lakers Women’s Basketball team and over the last few months, Rachel Van Woezik has started to implement a new culture and identity as the team's Head Coach.
“I like to think of things big picture and then take steps back,” says the Almonte, Ontario native.
“I try not to be focused on outcome, ever. Sometimes I don't care what the score is, and that's when we're not doing well, but also when we are. I think as an athlete you really focus on outcome a lot of the time; did I get my shot to go in? Are we winning this game? Now, as a coach, I want to know if we are doing the right things all the time.”
Van Woezik says that means looking at the game through a different lens.
“I don't care if your shot went in, but did you take the shot you were supposed to take? Are we not getting hit by ball screens? Are we all rebounding? Are we all doing the things that we're supposed to do that lead to those outcomes? For me, it's really like shifting my mindset to be more on the process and then how do we take a step back now and teach that in practice every day.”
Van Woezik was brought in as the team's new head coach during the 2022 off-season. Katie Hamilton had been at the helm for five seasons before stepping down midway through the 2021-2022 campaign.
The team's Captain Megan McCarter says, “It's been a process for sure, especially last year when the coaching change happened mid-season that definitely was hard for all of us. But I think as a team it brought us a lot closer, we didn't let it tear us apart and we got stronger from it. Now being here this year with a pretty positive start to our season I think it's definitely going in the right direction.”
The Lakers headed into the holiday break with a 2-8 record overall, but were coming off a good home stretch in which they went 2-2 in their final four games.
“I think we've finally learned how to play with each other,” says McCarter. “I think we're learning where we're going to be and how we want to play. We're developing our image on the court and I think just knowing who we are is helping a lot. We want to be a gritty, hardworking team, and it might not always be pretty but we are always going to try.”
That was part of what Van Woezik envisioned when the opportunity came up to return to Nipissing and be at the head of the women’s basketball program.
“During my interview process, I had to come up with a vision for where I see the program going. I created a three-year plan and I just tried to categorize everything that would be important to our vision such as recruitment, and community engagement, and the basketball team is just one pillar in that,” she says.
“I created a giant timeline for what markers we need to hit year after year for recruitment, for building our staff, for all of those different things.”
Van Woezik says she has relied on that staff throughout the first several months of her tenure.
“I've tried to pull in, and I'm continuing to try to pull in, people that can help with those things. People who are experts in different areas such as Rick Vanderlee who's been a part of the program for a long time, he’s definitely somebody that I lean on a lot administratively. He's a good sounding board for that. Then Lindsay McLean was added this year, she's an occupational therapist in North Bay, and she's really great at taking complex ideas in basketball and helping me to break them down to create a teaching point for the players. Ethan cardinal is a Masters Student who we added to our staff this year and he helps with stats and scouting analytics and does some video work with the girls. So that's been really helpful in trying to find different people that are experts in their own areas to inform opinions. I just feel fortunate to have the right people as part of our program.”
The Lakers felt Van Woezik was the right person for their program and she first arrived in North Bay thanks to the Lakers first Head Coach Marg Jones. Jones recruited Van Woezik from Laurentian University, and while Van Woezik was meant to be on the court, she struggled with a number of injuries throughout her time as a student-athlete.
“I think that's what started the coaching trajectory for me. Marg was really big on trying to find ways to keep me and other injured players involved. I started coaching locally, and took on Shoot for the Cure by organizing some of the off-court stuff. I obviously wanted to get back to playing, which is what I eventually did, but for me, I started to enjoy team dynamics and that made me really want to coach,” says Van Woezik who was pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Health and Physical Education at Nipissing.
“Going through that process of not being able to play probably helped me afterward. We have a couple of injured players right now and they keep saying to me that they see the game differently now because of their time on the sideline. For me, it was the realization that it is possible to make a career out of sport, even if it's not playing.”
Van Woezik began building her coaching resume. She was the head coach of the North Region for the Ontario Summer Development Program in 2018 and 2019 and was named to the Team Ontario U14 girls' team coaching staff as well as spending two seasons as the assistant coach with the Carleton Ravens. She was also one of nine finalists selected by the Toronto Raptors for the Wayne Embry Fellowship in 2020.
“You do this pretty exhausting interview process with the Raptors and their staff and then if you're the person selected for it, you spend the first six months of the year trying out all the different sectors of basketball operations,” says Van Woezik. “The interview process was during COVID so it was all on zoom which was kind of cool though because I got to see the Raptors coaches and staff just being very human. Since then, we’ve created a network that I'm still part of now. We talk all the time in the WhatsApp group with all the other finalists and some people from the Raptors and (affiliate team) the 905 and I've gotten other opportunities out of that, and a lot of other people who didn't win the fellowship wound up working in the NBA on different coaching staffs. I would encourage anybody to apply for it even if they don't have a basketball background.”
With that experience under her belt and the vision set out, Van Woezik and the Lakers have steadily improved as a team both on and off the court.
“I preach not talking about outcome so much, but I think for the girls it was important to have some validation that the stuff that we're doing is working,” says Van Woezik. “It's certainly been a challenge though because our division has three of the top ten teams in the country in it, so we played them twice already, and after a difficult start with some tough defensive matchups, I think it was encouraging for the girls.”
“As a captain, you try to relay that message,” says McCarter. “Not that it's OK to lose but it's OK to maybe not have the desired results but to see that the work ethic is paying off. I think going into practice, and no matter what happened the weekend before, you just focus on what you can do because you can't really control the other team, you can't control the refs, you can't control anything but yourself. So going into practice and always just having the mindset that you are where your feet are, just focus and do everything with intention. I try to lead by example in that way for sure.”
McCarter is a junior with the Lakers and is in the Bachelor of Health and Physical Education program with a plan to move into teachers' college after she earns that degree. The Wallaceburg, Ontario native says she was the captain of her high school team and was eager to get back into a leadership role when she committed to the Lakers in 2019.
“I was very proud of myself,” says McCarter, reflecting on being named team captain. “I feel like this group of women I play with I don't really think they need a leader, but I am really honoured and I feel like the hard work has paid off and I like being in a leadership role. Being able to have that platform, I feel appreciated as well.”
McCarter starred for the Wallaceburg Airhawks and says there is a big jump from the high school and rep levels to playing at the university level.
“It was a big learning curve coming to the OUA, the week before games you're preparing for the opponent. You're watching tape, you're practicing what they will do in practice, whereas, in high school, it's very individually focused. Now, we watch film on individual players to figure out their strengths and weaknesses and what they can do wrong.”
McCarter says, “I think it's kind of comforting that you have that information to fall back on during the game. All of us are here because we want to be playing basketball and we really take it seriously so we do the work beforehand so that when we get to a game it's simplified because you know what we're going to do and you know what you want to do.”
Off the court, Van Woezik has been determined to make this team more of a focal point for the community and McCarter says they are already seeing that effort pay off.
“Seeing that community involvement, that does help as a team,” says McCarter. “Especially in the few close games we've had this year at home, I think the crowd plays a big part in just seeing people out there cheering for us. You feel it on the floor, you really feel that energy. I come from a small town so coming here it feels like a small-town community when we have all those people in the gym giving back to us and it's nice to give back to them as well.”
That includes being part of several charity events, helping out elementary schools with their basketball programs over the course of the year, and bringing youth basketball teams up to the university for a tour of the facilities and the locker rooms prior to the game.
“Just to see how excited they got to see us in that environment and tour our locker room, I think it's just wholesome to see that, and know that you're inspiring younger people to be involved in this game,” says McCarter.
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Pursuit is about stories from the world of local sports and the people involved in them.
If you have an idea for the “Pursuit” series, send Matt an email at [email protected]
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