After a whole day of classes at the University of Toronto, Nicole Chateau makes the familiar drive to Humber College North campus to join the Humber Hawks women’s basketball team in practice.
As the team’s starting point guard, she has the responsibility of defending against the opponent’s top player game in and game out. Off the court, she has a bigger battle.
Chateau is currently taking two programs at the same time. She’s studying kinesiology at the University of Toronto and is also enrolled in the General Arts and Science program at Humber along with playing basketball with the Hawks.
On game-day, Chateau averages around 28 minutes of playing time and although she is exhausted she knows her routine doesn’t allow her to go to bed just yet. She still has to spend at least 30 more minutes driving back downtown. When she gets home, she has to go through an asynchronous Humber class before she can finally collapse in her bed around 1 a.m. to wake up at 7:30 a.m.
It’s a routine is definitely not made for the weak.
“It’s hard, I don’t even sleep the minimum number of hours,” Chateau said.
“I don’t have free days, I play games and I do assignments on weekends. If I want to hang out with friends, it has to go in the calendar weeks in advance, but I’m enjoying it and everybody is very supportive of me,” she said.
From left to right, the Chateau family, sister Jenna, dad Ray, Nicole and mom Danielle. Photo credit: Humber Hawks / Diego Guillen
Following the dominant 92-46 victory against the Conestoga Condors on Wednesday, the point guard was exhausted but she still had the energy to joke with one of her teammates, Marley Bonnick, before heading to the locker room.
“Nicole is a really good multitasker. I couldn’t do what she has been doing for two years,” Bonnick said.
“She is just bubbly all the time. We just look at each other and we laugh, we have inside jokes and random moments. She brings that to the team,” the Hawks centre said.
Her father Ray Chateau, who is also director of Athletics and Recreation at Humber College, was standing up in the bleachers after seeing her daughter playing.
“I’m super proud of her,” he said. “I’m very proud of how resilient he is, the fact she can juggle it all, it’s a lot of mental fatigue. The biggest thing is that she is so well-organized, she plans everything out months in advance.
“Obviously, we try our best supporting her. My wife does a pretty good job feeding her, she lives downtown, close to us,” he said.
Hawks coach Ajay Sharma was impressed with the performance of Chateau against Conestoga with nine points and an outstanding defence. He said she is taking on a lot of responsibilities on the court.
“She is one of our strongest guards, very smart tactically and we are asking her to play bigger than she is for the injuries,” Sharma said.
She picks up the things very fast, she wants to win, fights for lost balls, for rebounds,” he said.
“But I’m very flexible. The assignments go first, so the players don’t have to worry if they miss a practice,” Sharma said.
Despite the responsibility and pressure, Chateau said she has never missed practice.
“It’s worth it to commute every day to Humber to play with this team,” she said.
Chateau said she does a little bit of meditation before going to bed to relieve the stress. But she definitely has another significant activity in her tight daily schedule.
“There is a lot of joy in the Humber team. Playing basketball is how I disconnect,” she said.