Parksville’s Chelsea Hoey is finding her way on the court at Thompson Rivers University, learning to balance basketball, books and the life of a university student-athlete.
The biggest challenge for Hoey in her freshman season came at the start of the basketball year, after Hoey suffered a knee injury that kept her out of action for the first four weeks of the season.
Missing all of her team’s exhibition action, Hoey spent that first month getting back the strength in her knee and is just now finding her way with her team, which sports a 6-2 record.
The WolfPack women’s program is currently in second place in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Explorer division.
“It’s been a challenge,” Hoey said. “Making that transition from high school basketball to the CIS has been tough. “The speed and intensity of the game are on a whole different level than what it was like in high school. It’s almost like I have to learn how to play the game all over again. I have new teammates, a new gameplay style and also just the physical fitness of everyone is a lot different from what I was used to before.”
Off the court, Hoey has been very busy but has also been enjoying university life as well.
“It’s busy, but it’s pretty fun too,” Hoey said. “I have met a lot of great people and I’m enjoying my time in Kamloops. Playing basketball while going to school has been a handful but I learned very quickly that time management is key. “I’m pretty lucky to have such a good group of girls on my team who have helped me with school, basketball and how to live independently. The team and coaches are all very supportive, so I’m making the adjustment to my new lifestyle very nicely.”
