Carleton Ravens guard Cynthia Dupont says she reflects on her journey all the time. Even on a team where everyone has made sacrifices, Dupont’s story might be the most profound of all.
“She’s overcome adversity like no one else has,” point guard Jenjen Abella noted.
The Coaticook, Que., native’s parents divorced so she grew up with her mother. Dupont’s upbringing forced her to be more independent at an early age.
“Since I wasn’t as close with my dad, it just made me be able to take care of myself more and more as I grew up,” she said, crediting her family for helping her through it.
“Obviously there was issues but I think that in the long run, it made me be a stronger individual,” she added.
The third-year guard played at Champlain College Lennoxville, literally “down the street” from her high school in Sherbrooke, Que., for three years.
True to her upbringing, Dupont took the initiative on her U Sports career. Knowing that Ravens head coach Taffe Charles had watched her before, she contacted him in 2015, organized an individual workout and made the team. She was “pretty happy.”
“I never thought for one second, from CEGEP to university, that [I] would [be on] the number one team going to nationals,” Dupont reflects.
Her intense, all-out hustle on the court is symbolic of her journey here.
“I was just so determined to be, not necessarily the best player, just the one that worked the hardest,” Dupont added. “Diving out for loose balls or helping my teammates the best way I can.”
Her teammates also praised her for the type of person she is.
Heather Lindsay called her “inspirational.” Abella said “she is one of the most kind-hearted people I know.”
“She’s always looking to take care of other people, always putting other people before herself,” Abella said.
Dupont has also used her past experience to guide others.
“Now because I’ve been that way, I’m able to help my teammates in terms of if they go through something and they’ve never been through it,” Dupont explained. “I’m there, I know what it’s like, I try and help them out.”
She also pointed out how her experiences growing up impact her today.
“I think it’s better to be independent knowing that if something happens to you in the long run or whatever, you’re able to deal with it right off and you’re able to deal with it in a certain way that will help you or help others or inspire them,” Dupont said.
Dupont and her team reached nationals last season as she became an important player off the bench. She averaged 6.8 points-per-game in 18.2 minutes-per-game during the 2017-18 regular season.
This, after facing the biggest adversity of all, as Dupont’s mother and grandmother both passed away last year.
“That’s probably the hardest I had to go through but my teammates were there, my coaching staff were all there for me and it was all okay at the end,” she said.
Playing basketball and being with the team she described as “a second family” helped her pull through.
“What I tried to do: when I was at basketball, I was at basketball, I wasn’t anywhere else,” she reflected. “Obviously I didn’t always succeed but I think that just being at the basketball . . . it just took my mind off things.”
Dupont said she realizes the long road she’s travelled to reach nationals.
“It’s important to be fortunate about these opportunities and I think that some people that don’t think about it right away. They live in the moment, they often not really realize how amazing these experiences are,” she noted.
Dupont is hoping to capture a national title, a win that “would mean everything” for her and her teammates. It pushes her every day.
“Honestly, that everyone we’ve sacrificed for and everything we’ve worked for actually came [with] a purpose,” she continued. “We’ve worked so hard for something. When you lose, it feels like all the hard work you’ve done [is] for nothing and I think that it would signify why we work so hard.”
Dupont will decide whether or not to return to the team for another year after nationals. She noted it’s “literally 50/50” right now as she wants to go into a career in nursing.
“I just don’t know if I want to do [nursing] now or if I want to do it a year from now,” she said. “Basketball’s been my life and it’s going to be hard knowing that there’s nothing after but I always think that once you’re done, you’re done and I don’t know if I want to be done.”
