As the final buzzer sounded and Kia Watt stepped off the court, she reflected on another commanding win for Humber women’s basketball.
She looked down at her hand to see the two Es she had written there, as she does every game. It’s a reminder of the mantra of her coaches: High energy, high effort.
After a win like this, she was once again reminded of how not being complacent can produce success.
“No matter the game, no matter who we’re playing, we always need to have high energy and high effort,” Watt said.
From the student-athletes to the coaches to the Athletic Directors’ office, Humber Athletics bears the same unique and spirited culture at every level, which has led to decades of continual success.
Of the currently active sports in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association, the Humber Hawks have won 247 provincial championships and 47 national championships, with many of those won in the past two decades.
Watt, a CCAA All-Canadian Team member last season and the team leader in scoring this season said there’s pressure to come out and perform their best every game.
She said it’s because every team they play knows it takes their best to go toe-to-toe with the Hawks.
Watt said regardless of the season or the roster, there is the identical goal of success and an intense competitive atmosphere every year.
“Even though we may be a different team this year, we still have that same work ethic and that same drive that Humber has instilled in us,” she said.
From a coaching point of view, Humber women’s softball coach, Duaine Bowles said he shares Watt’s view of the importance of Humber’s work ethic and drive.
Bowles, a 2019 provincial champion and 2020 Coach of the Year recipient, said it’s important to have players that move the Humber Hawks culture in the right direction.
He said he makes sure his players know the value of working hard for their teammates and themselves.
Bowles said what has led to success for him as a coach, along with his team, has been the investment made into the person rather than just their athletic ability.
“We want them to be the type of player that leaves the program better than they found it,” he said.
He said for him, Humber Hawks culture is built on the legacy student-athletes leave behind, by being mindful about how they’re impacting the program not only now, but for those in the future.
“When you finish playing here, what are people going to say about you when leave?” Bowles asks his players. “What type of person do you want your teammates to think you were when you graduate here?”
Assistant Athletic Director Michael Kopinak feels the goal of building a legacy is also present in the coaches.
Kopinak said when the athletic director’s office hires head coaches, they look for those with deep connections to Humber, which offers an opportunity to continue to build that Humber legacy.
He said they are inclined to hire those with not just experience but experience playing and assistant coaching at Humber.
Kopinak said the passion for the Blue-and-Gold and the culture that brings makes it more than just a job for them.
“We want to hire people who live and breathe Humber Hawks,” he said.
“Some of our best players, they’ve left here, they’ve gone and some coaching other places and now they’ve returned here,” he said. “Because they [have] that passion to give back to Humber.”
Kopinak said the winning culture really began with the previous athletic director, Doug Fox, in the early to mid-2000s.
Although Kopinak acknowledged that Humber had won championships before Fox’s tenure, he said the consistent winning came under the winning culture Fox introduced.
And since then, current Athletic Director Ray Chateau and Kopinak have carried the torch in continuing the winning culture created by their predecessor.
“Winning breeds winning,” Kopinak said.
He said the Athletic Director’s office has provided the necessary resources to teams to foster that winning mentality.
Kopinak said the Humber Hawks provide their student-athletes and coaches with a varsity academic centre, a therapy department and a high-performance facility.
He said the athletic department has top-notch therapy and equipment staff with experience working on Olympic teams, world cups and various world championships.
All this support is felt among the coaches as Duaine Bowles said the support and resources are second to none.
“There is no place that I think that I could coach in the country that’s going to give me the resources that I have here,” he said.
When Watt prepares for a game, she said she’s reminded of the Humber winning culture the coaches have created and, in the case of women’s basketball, have experienced before.
Alongside national championship-winning women’s basketball head coach Ajay Sharma, is a coaching staff that includes Ceejay Nofuente and Aleena Domingo.
Both Nofuente and Domingo were members of those national championship teams, something Watt said she hopes to achieve before her Humber playing career ends.
Watt said the winning culture her coaches have experienced and created fuels her and her teammates to attempt to follow in their footsteps and achieve the same.
“They also have, I’m going to say, two, three national championships under their belt, so when they talk to us or when Ajay talks to us, we know we have to listen,” Watt said. “Because they got there, they won, they have rings, they have banners, and we don’t have that yet.”
As Kopinak said, winning breeds winning.
With student-athletes like Watt, coaches like Bowles, and athletic department staff like Kopinak, the Humber Hawks culture of winning is alive and well as they continue down the long-standing path of success.