Willy Manigat sent gratitude 1,300 kilometres away in a phone call from Summerside, P.E.I., where he is currently playing basketball professionally with the Summerside Storm of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC).
Now that the 6’0’’, 190-lb. point guard is playing the sport for his livelihood, he often remembers the lessons of preparation and toughness from Carleton’s most notorious winner, Dave Smart.
“[Smart] always stressed just being as perfect as you can be. When you want to play professionally and you play for Dave Smart, it’s just something that becomes second nature.”
Manigat said he has always held higher expectations for himself, which is an attitude he insists is shared among the most successful of Dave Smart’s pupils.
Manigat said that his preparation to play professionally was started that first day as a member of the Carleton Ravens and hard work throughout his relationship with Smart has obviously made him ready for the limelight.
“To be honest, I’ve found playing professionally and playing for Dave Smart, there’s not that much different,” he said.
Manigat carries with him a standard, fostered by relentless work ethic and honed by Dave Smart that has created high expectations for himself and made the transition from the C.I.S. to the NBLC a smooth one.
By no means is Manigat’s professional debut in Canada simplistic or anti-climatic coming from the strong-arm basketball program of the C.I.S. He is one of two players on the Storm to come out of the C.I.S., the majority leaving American schools to come play professionally in Canada.
The mix of backgrounds, attitudes, and different personalities of his teammates is a new experience for the Ottawa native and Manigat definitely understands the added pressures that walk hand-in-hand with being a professional.
“It’s more competitive because people are playing for their jobs right now,” he said.
“Some of these players have their wives, girlfriends, or fiancés. There are kids back home. This is there way of life, this is how they make their money, so it makes it more competitive in that aspect.”
Professional life has its perks. Comforting is the fact that on any given night in Summerside, P.E.I’s second largest city with a population of almost 15,000 people, up to 3,000 spectators may gather to watch Willy and the Storm take the court.
“I’d say we probably have the best support out of any other gym I’ve been to,” he said.
Manigat is a part of the very young NBLC, a league that started in 2011 and has teams in eight Canadian cities, with plans to expand into Ottawa and Kingston, according to Manigat. He speaks confidently that the existence of a professional league in Canada can increase the level of competition in the country and can effectively keep athletes from playing down South.
“If the league continues to grow [these kids] can look forward to something other than their dream of making it to the NBA,” he said.
While he admits Canada was not his first choice to begin his professional career, he said he feels happy to stay home a little while longer, and with the uncertainty that comes with professionalism he knows by next year he may be somewhere different.
Perhaps in Ottawa, pending NBLC expansion, which he has admitted he would be excited to return to.
