Lucas Dermott seizes opportunities whenever he can. This summer, he's building his arm muscles packing food at the National Grocers warehouse.
Twice a week, the 19-year-old goes straight from work to the basketball court at Laurentian University where he changes into the shorts and jersey he wore this year playing for the Almaguin Highlands Secondary School basketball team.
"It's definitely a change of pace for sure," said Dermott, who comes from Magnetewan, a town of 300.
Starting this fall, he'll attend Cambrian College. Besides learning how to hammer and saw in Cambrian's general carpentry program, he'll dribble and shoot for the Golden Shield's men's varsity basketball team. He came to Sudbury early, he said, "to get a feel for the city and to practise."
That's where Laurentian's basketball court comes in. Back in the day, Laurentian Voyageurs head coach Shawn Swords and Cambrian Golden Shield's head coach Brad Hann were teammates at Laurentian. Why not team up, they thought, and get their players to scrimmage over the summer?
"The biggest thing for players going from high school to university is size," Swords said. "Playing against bigger guys."
Dermott, who doesn't stop bouncing the ball as he talks, has a bit of trepidation about college play. "It's like I'm in Grade 10 again coming up to the senior team," he said.
But after this summer, he'll have some familiar faces around him, including Ryan Dewey, who also hails from Magnetewan and got Dermott into basketball in the first place.
"There's nothing much to do in our small town," Dermott said. Five years ago, the Lions Club built a pavilion that houses a hockey rink in the winter.
"Come out and play," Dewey urged him. "You're not doing anything."
Dermott joined the team and never looked back. "It's a thinking man's sport," he said.
