Coach adjusting to a ‘new normal’ down east
COVID-19 has allowed Niagara’s Matt Skinn to put more responsibility in the hands of players
At first glance, it may not seem like much has changed.
This time of year, most Cape Breton University (CBU) student-athletes have already left the Sydney, N.S., campus to settle into new routines back home with their families.
For CBU basketball head coach Matt Skinn, finding ways to stay in touch with players remotely once they’ve left the island is a familiar off-season problem. In an average year, he wouldn’t see his athletes until the Capers open camp in August.
But while it may seem the same, much is different.
With COVID-19 sending students from across Canada home months earlier than anticipated, coaches were pushed to find virtual ways to capture the attention of players, all the while wondering when — or if — their seasons will begin this fall.
Skinn, a St. Catharines native who grew up playing high school hoops at Notre Dame College School in Welland, acknowledged the situation has “definitely been a challenge.”
“U Sports put a moratorium on recruiting that we weren’t allowed to have any kids come to visit the campus, and that’s still going on,” he said. “The access to equipment and to the courts, and things like that, is different.
There could be a “quick turnaround” for coaches and players once health and safety restrictions are eased and sports gets the green light.
Despite the difficult circumstances, Skinn believes the creative methods and new technology he’s used these past few months will be beneficial moving forward and become part of “the new normal.”
“What it’s allowed me to do is kind of put more responsibility in the hands of the players, and kind of challenge them to look into different things and to push themselves and their teammates to be better,” he said.
This upcoming season will be the Cape Breton graduate’s third as Capers head coach in his second stint with his alma mater.
After spending five years as a student-athlete from 1999-2004, and four years as head coach 2012-16, Skinn elected to leave CBU for the University of Calgary, where he received his masters in sports psychology.
He won a U Sports national championship as associate head coach of the Calgary Dinos.
The Capers struggled in his absence, winning two games in as many seasons. When Skinn returned to Sydney, he took over a program that was “starting from scratch in a lot of ways.”
“Going into my third year now, I’ve thought we’ve made some really positive strides over the last couple of years of trying to get to know one another and build toward sustained success as a program,” the 39-year-old said. “We’re just excited about what the future holds.”
The uniqueness of his position is not one Skinn takes for granted.
“It’s pretty amazing, I can’t lie about that,” he said. “I feel just that I have a lot of passion and pride for the university and the community.
“We’re a pretty great island out here.”
Despite being 2,000 kilometres from his home in Niagara, Skinn was immediately drawn to the familiarity he felt when he visited Sydney and toured CBU campus as a young player.
“It actually reminded me a lot of Welland, and I think that’s why I made the choice to come here,” he recalled. “In a lot of ways, they are both blue-collar towns.
“If you work hard, people really take to that.”
At Notre Dame, Skinn played under Mike Rao, who is now the Brock University women’s basketball head coach and reigning U Sports coach of the year.
Despite the age and size gap that came with skipping a grade, Skinn was encouraged by Rao to practise with the team.
“I felt it was really good for me at that age. I really really looked up to those older players,” said the former Fighting Irish grad. “(Rao) really encouraged me.
“He was always kind of the person to open the gym for me or open the weight room for me.”
It wasn’t always easy, as Rao pushed Skinn to be better.
“But then once I graduated from high school and moved on to play university, our relationship blossomed and he’s become basically my second father.”
Although Skinn had coached in Welland’s minor basketball system, it wasn’t until he got to university that he began thinking of coaching as an option professionally.
More than just a love of the sport, or a hope to stay in the game after his playing career, he started to see coaching as an opportunity to pass along the skills basketball taught him.
“I don’t feel I would be where I am right now without basketball,” he said.
“It gave me discipline, it gave me the problem-solving skills, it gave me the work ethic to really want to achieve my goals and really focus on school.”
To his parents, academics were essential, so much so that extra practice time on the court was dependent on first completing his homework.
Now that he’s a coach, he has the same mindset when it comes to keeping the game in perspective with his players.
“The most important thing for us is for them to walk across the stage and get their degree,” Skinn said. “Basketball is preparing them for life.
“We’re just trying to put them in those positions to succeed.”
His approach to recruiting is “character-based,” going far beyond shooting and rebounding.
“We try really hard to spend a little bit of extra time and get the right people. It’s not always a perfect process, but we try hard.
“We feel kids with high character can achieve more.”
Basketball will resume later rather than sooner for Skinn and the Capers.
Last week, the Atlantic University Sport, along with other conferences in Canada, suspended all sports until Dec. 31 because of COVID-19.
The decision resulted in the cancellation of all fall sports. Whether winter sports, including basketball, will play a shortened season beginning in January will be determined in the fall in consultation with public health authorities and member universities.