Thank you, Coach Sharma

By: Angelo Ventura
Humber Athletics Communications

Determination, success, and respect are synonymous with the world of sports. Success can't be reached without determination, and respect must be earned for success. In some cases, some individuals have possessed and earned all three attributes—much like coach Ajay Sharma, who was determined to create a legacy with the Humber's women's basketball program.

He has created that legacy on the court and beyond the hardwood. As a result, Coach Sharma has become one of the most decorated bench bosses and personnel in the history of Humber Athletics.

Now that Sharma has officially stepped down from his post for the women's team after 13 fruitful years, his legacy has been written in stone with achievements through wins and championships. Still, through lasting impact and mentorship, he provided student-athletes who will forever share a special bond with him and the program.

Coach Sharma was called to take over the women's team in 2011. After a six-year stint as a men's basketball team assistant under former coach and Humber Hall of Famer Darrell Glenn and another year getting his feet wet as Ryerson's assistant coach, Sharma was handed the keys to transform the women's program at the North Campus.

With the experience and knowledge Sharma gained in those positions himself, he felt ready to take on a larger responsibility and bring the program to an unforeseen status. As Sharma stated, he wanted to "put his stake in the ground" and construct something memorable for all involved, including Humber itself.

"It's a huge transition moving a seat over on the bench from assistant to head coach," Sharma said.  

"It's a lot to take on, and you realize you're responsible for so much more than when you're an assistant, especially each individual on the team. There are many long nights of planning, recruiting, and making sure everyone and everything is okay and running smoothly," Sharma mentioned.

"There are many challenges, many things to endure and get through as a team, but all that becomes easier when aiming for the same goal and having fun while doing it," Sharma added.

A responsibility like turning a program into a serial winner is no small task, even more so with the track record and reputation Humber carries. Especially when 20-plus athletes and staff must be on the same page. Sharma saw the coaching vacancy in 2011 as an exciting opportunity where he could bring his philosophies, vision, and character to life.

"I got to a point where I wanted more than being an assistant; I really wanted to be a head coach. I had my own ideas to build something really great here and, in the process, help provide each student-athlete with a solid experience. The familiarity I already had made it a pretty simple decision to accept the job," Sharma added.

The rest is history, as they say.

Prior to Sharma's arrival as head coach, the women's team saw themselves in a rare spot where they hadn't won a medal in five consecutive seasons. They still couldn't make any headway nationally, but most importantly, they were going home empty-handed provincially, where they finished on the podium rather consistently.

Even after back-to-back 11-3 finishes in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 campaigns, the program couldn't add to their medal count. The program was stuck, and it needed a new direction to get them back on track not only in Ontario but also finally putting them on the map across Canada.

Sharma may not have known it at the time, but he has forever changed the way other schools in the province and the country view the Humber's women's basketball program. His coaching has even changed how recruits consider joining other schools over the Navy and Gold.

"When I was offered the job, there was a desire for a culture shift. It's not like the team was bad or the program was struggling to get wins, but once they got to the playoffs, they couldn't figure it out and get over the hump," Sharma said.

"When I got the call from James DePoe (Manager of North Campus Athletic Facilities) for the job, they trusted me to be the coach to do just that and get back to winning. They believed in me to recruit the most ambitious student-athletes and raise them up as they navigate their own lives and careers," Sharma added.

It did take a little while for Sharma and the Hawks' trophy case to fill up. Despite the women's team winning just one OCAA bronze medal in his first three seasons as head coach, Sharma still led them to 41-13 regular season record and a 5-5 record in the OCAA postseason.

Finishing 16-2 in the 2013-14 season and disappointingly crashing out early in the OCAA playoffs would light a fire under Sharma. That season would be the blueprint which began a string of success over the next decade and laid the groundwork for the program and student-athletes to really take off.

"When I came in at the time, my coaching style was unique because I think I wasn't always treating the program as if basketball were the be-all and end-all of everything. For the staff and athletes, basketball wasn't or isn't the only thing in their lives," Sharma said.

"We had to remember they still have school, personal and social lives, and families outside of basketball that are just as, if not more important than their athletics careers," Sharma stated.

Although college sports are the pinnacle of most athletes' careers and each player needs to be dedicated to delivering expected results, Sharma stressed the importance and necessity of a people-over-player mentality on his teams, no matter who made up the team year after year. This mentality constructed a healthy, consistent, and rewarding environment throughout Sharma's tenure.

"I wasn't too much into the X's and O's all the time. Although you need a system and strategies to win, I think a winning formula starts with compassion and caring for each person on the team because every person is coached differently and needs a certain level of care," Sharma said.

"It sounds cliché, but we were a community, a family. We wanted to keep it fun while staying competitive; I pushed my players to be the best possible students, athletes, and women they could be, even if they may not have seen that themselves," Sharma added.

"In the end, having that balance, remembering we're all human beings who need support from our peers while still battling for glory, made it an enjoyable experience for me and I think everyone who came through the program," he said.

In many instances throughout the world of sports, numbers don't lie. Numbers and statistics can paint a very vivid picture of a team's performance and accomplishments.

After 13 seasons, two CCAA titles, six OCAA championships, a national Coach of the Year and three OCAA Coach of the Year awards, and a 222-40 overall record later, Sharma undoubtedly created a masterpiece, or a dynasty sports figures would call it.

Sharma's philosophies sparked an atmosphere where players and coaches trusted each other to the nth degree. From the training staff to the assistants, to the players who didn't see much game action, to the stars of the roster, everyone who came through Sharma's system was important. Everyone involved was needed to reach the program's progress and prosperity.

"Above all, it comes down to respect," Sharma said. "When everyone buys into that and we look out for each other, when everyone on the team is seen as equal with a high level of togetherness, it's hard to break that up and even more so for our opponents."

Sharma more than put his stake in the ground and shaped the women's basketball program into one of the most admired and downright dominant in the country, where the tight-knit bond everyone shared each season struck fear into the women across the court from the Hawks.

That level of respect could only be attained through the appreciation and reverence from the hundreds of women Sharma inspired throughout his Humber tenure.

"All the winning was nice, and we did win a lot. But I think it has been amazing to see and be apart of the success stories of the women I've coached, more so off the court," Sharma said.

"I've seen so many of them go onto have their own families, move up in their careers, tell me they've moved to another country… All this success isn't possible without building the trust of each person, checking in on them, and having a safe foundation for the student athletes to want to give their all for the program, and of course themselves," Sharma added.

Sharma's influence has been impressionable enough that former players are still in contact with him, reminiscing the many memorable moments they shared on and off the court. To fully grasp Sharma's lasting imprint within the Humber's halls, former players take time out of their day and attend games at the North Campus to support Sharma and his recruits each season.

Not only did the athletes develop a strong connection with Sharma, but even family members of the athletes over the years continue to reciprocate the appreciation and effort Sharma put into their peers. Furthermore, Sharma has recruited some former players to his coaching staff.

Ceejay Nofuente and Aleena Domingo are two of the best to ever play for the Hawks, as well as the entirety of the CCAA. A lot of that had to do with Sharma's coaching and his belief in them, and vice-versa. It was much like the actual player-coach duos you see in the WNBA.

Sharma admits having their presence on the team made his job run a lot smoother, even more so when they have joined Sharma as assistants after finishing their time as student-athletes.

"Ceejay and Aleena were great; they were a joy to coach and mentor. Not only as players with their insane skill level, but we were very close and had so many good times. Of course, when you have them on the team, the rest of the players follow suit and get inspired by them, and I wanted them to be inspired, so it became that domino effect," Sharma said.

Both women experienced the brunt of Sharma's success as teammates and friends for a handful of seasons, even while dealing with season-ending injuries at different times during Nofuente and Domingo's tenures.

In both cases, Sharma and his people over player tenet were the main reason they pushed through those injuries, fully recovering and eventually creating their respective legacies that echo throughout the gymnasium today.

In Nofuente's first season as Sharma's assistant in the 2023-24 campaign, she saw her relationship with Sharma grow exponentially, and she was able to see just how much detail he put into coaching all these years.

"Going from a player to the bench beside him drawing plays, you see how quick he is on his feet. I see even more now how he was able to direct us on the court and still support us throughout the week with whatever else we have going on because we're all different. We all have our own things going on, so for him to understand that while also trying to build a winning environment is pretty awesome," Nofuente said.

"It's amazing to see how much he cares, all the time and effort he puts into what he does and how he thinks. He allows the athletes to play so freely but also disciplined. And it's a day in day out kind of thing with a coach; he doesn't let up perfecting his craft," Nofuente added.

Sometimes, staying consistent can be the most challenging aspect of sports, especially when complacency sets in. As competitive and skilled as Nofuente is, even she had to be held accountable as the leader of the team and encouraged to improve gradually by Sharma in order to reach the heights of her collegiate career.

That encouragement is a vital factor in Nofuente playing semi-professionally in Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, and even with Team Canada at the 2019 Pan-Am games once she graduated from Humber.

Especially after winning their first OCAA gold in 2015 after a 10-year drought, Nofuente's comeback from a devastating knee injury fuelled the women's team to win OCAA gold again the following season. Not only did they triumph in back-to-back years provincially, but they also won their first national medal in the program's 40-plus year history, going all the way in 2016.

You would think after achieving such exceptional feats, seemingly reaching their ceiling, Sharma, Nofuente, and the rest of the student-athletes would be satisfied with their results. It was quite the contrary, according to Nofuente, keeping their string of success alive and thriving.

"Coach kept us motivated, hungry, and wanting more. He wasn't okay with just being good; he knew we could be great, so he really pushed us to dig deep and see all our potential," Nofuente said.

"He made our practices so intense but also kept them fun and lighthearted when we needed it. So when we actually played, it was like our practices were the games, and the games seemed like practices because his preparation and trust in us to get the job done were on another level," Nofuente mentioned.

From 2014 to 2018, the women's team went 96-4, including the OCAA and CCAA playoffs, with three of those losses coming in national matchups. They won four consecutive OCAA titles, national gold in 2016 and 2018, as well as a CCAA bronze medal in 2017.

No other team in OCAA women's basketball could compare, and the chemistry was unbreakable due to Sharma's standards. Looking back at Sharma's 13 years, that four-year span is the epitome of his time as the Women's coach.

"Looking back at how my career almost ended and didn't take off because of my injury, I'm thankful Coach Ajay was there to get me where I am today, and all the winning we did was a result of the attention and leadership he gave us behind the scenes," Nofuente said.

However, those four years, all the lifted trophies, and racking up wins don't completely encapsulate Sharma's time and recollections he has either created or shared. With the many women who came through the program and were a part of the journey for over a decade, Sharma has a plethora of memories where basketball simply wasn't present.

Memories such as all the trips across Canada, the US, Asia, and Europe where the women got to see the world from different perspectives, providing unique experiences that a lot of them never had up until that point. Even when they weren't visiting other countries, Sharma was always thinking of growing that family mindset through team dinners and events, attending concerts and festivals, celebrating birthdays, and even something as small as handing out nicknames.

These are memories someone like Nofuente cherishes and ultimately summarize what Sharma did, said, and believed in to create the best possible ambience when the women he coached were selected to represent themselves and Humber.

It will be quite the transition for the women's program when Sharma isn't on the sidelines for the first time since early 2011. Still, Sharma is more than confident in the players and now assistants like Nofuente and Domingo to inspire the next generation of student-athletes.

"It's a bittersweet feeling because I loved coaching this program; it was my second home. But I leave it happy and more than satisfied with the work put in to achieve what we achieved," Sharma said.

"I know the same way I came in without knowing how much we'd accomplish can be the same way the new coach comes in, and maybe takes some of the philosophy I used to bring the program in the right direction, keeps the community growing, and brings even more success to the table," he added.

A new, exciting chapter begins for the Humber women's basketball team in the 2024-25 season, following in the footsteps of Sharma's legacy and establishing their own. Although he won't be there physically, his spirit and vision will still be alive.

Sharma doesn't rule out a return to Humber or another coaching gig, but it's safe to say he's more than earned the rest from drawing up plays and ensuring dozens of people are doing well in their everyday lives.

"I'm going to miss the camaraderie and the grind, but after 13 years I'm happy with how it all played out and the time I put in. It was exhausting no doubt, but all the memories and experiences made it worth it in the end," Sharma said.

"I'm looking forward to figuring my future out and what I want to do, spending time with family and friends, getting in shape, and just starting a new chapter of my life," Sharma added.

In the end, Sharma truly represented the "Humber Way," as he put it. Determination, success, and respect. For everyone that came through the program under Sharma's wing, he helped them soar like a hawk.  When it was all said and done, Sharma bled navy and gold.

Thank you, Coach Sharma.