The basketball is different, the players a little older. The weather is most definitely different. Even the English language is spoken with a distinctly different accent.
Truth is, there are not many direct connecting points between Long Island, New York, and Sudbury, Ontario.
And yet NBA G League assistant coach Shawn Swords carries a little bit of Sudbury around with him, pretty much every week of the year. Perhaps that is unavoidable.
The 49-year-old Ottawa native starred with the Laurentian Voyageurs men’s basketball team in the 1990s before eventually making his way to the national team. He suited up for Team Canada at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
In the summer of 2007, Swords would return to his alma mater, introduced as the new head coach of the team for which he once played. It’s a post he would hold right through until last fall, at which time he would take a one-year sabbatical to work with a Long Island Nets crew that he had come to know through summer encounters, lending a helping hand to former Team Canada teammate Steve Nash and company.
A little over a month ago, it was confirmed Swords’ departure from Laurentian was now permanent. Leaving Laurentian after helping the franchise climb to sit first in their division with a record of 23-9 will no doubt be bittersweet, as will saying goodbye to Sudbury for Swords, who spent much of his adult life here, and his family. and with his family finding themselves in the hotbed of basketball that is the US of A, as daughters Syla and Savannah draw plenty of interest from elite NCAA programs, there will always be moments where Swords allows his thoughts to hearken back a setting where he has spent much of his adult life.
“Sudbury is such a great place to raise a family; my girls absolutely loved it,” Swords stated late last week, attending a basketball tournament with his daughters, Syla and Savannah, in Virginia. “It gave us a great environment to grow as a family.”
At least as important is the opportunity to continue his development as a basketball coach as part of the staff of Long Island head coach Ronnie Burrell.
“I don’t know that at Laurentian, that we necessarily always got the best recruits or the finished product out of high-school,” said Swords. “We tried to get guys who had room to improve and were willing to improve. I think that kind of player development helped me a lot this year. Laurentian helped me that way, working with all kinds of different players.”
Back in town earlier this month, Swords paid a visit to his soon-to-be-old stomping grounds, the Ben Avery Gym at Laurentian University. He said he was struck by feelings of nostalgia for his time in the Nickel City.
“Just not being able to go and play hockey on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays with my Sudbury Nooners group,” said Swords. “Not being around some of the Sudbury Selects (local basketball oldtimers group); not being able to see Jason Hurley (LU women’s basketball coach; former assistant coach with Swords with the men’s team) on a daily basis and talk basketball with him.”
Through it all, Swords created a legacy of basketball at Laurentian, one that might not have reached the same elite heights as the Voyageurs of his playing days, but one which embraced many of the same characteristics in their style of play.
“I think that for the most part, we played hard,” he said. “We were a tough team to play against. I think we could throw the ball around most years and enjoyed doing it. In the playoffs, not a lot of teams were excited to play us.
“No matter what year it was, that was one of those things that stood out.”
Swords won’t soon forget his time in Sudbury, and it seems likely many in Sudbury won’t forget him either.
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
