Basketball brings out the best in Sweeny Wesmen recruit maintains close ties to First Nations communities hundreds of kilometres away By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 5:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 5, 2024

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This article was published 05/04/2024 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Abby Sweeny was the middle child trying to figure out where she fit in.

She had four brothers — two older, two younger — in a hockey-obsessed family growing up in the north. Home was Pimicikamak Cree Nation.

“My dad always says I grew up really tough, especially with all those brothers,” she says.

It seemed natural Sweeny would start out as a hockey player but when her dad, Mark, received a work promotion, the family moved to Winnipeg when she was 12.

She soon found her true calling on the basketball court in Grade 6 at Shamrock School.

“My parents (Mark and mom Anne) want to give their kids more opportunities,” says Abby. “I didn’t think basketball was going to be like the biggest opportunity for me because I wasn’t familiar with it at first. I started playing at a couple of camps and I was a water girl and then once we moved out here, I didn’t realize how big the basketball community was.”

Five years later, she has transformed into a highly touted basketball recruit. Fresh from three years as the point guard of the three-time provincial AAAA champion Dakota Lancers, Sweeny is about to embark on a U Sports career at the University of Winnipeg.

“Our knowledge of basketball was quite limited because generally in the north the only opportunities for sport are either hockey or baseball, right?” says Mark Sweeny. “That’s just because of the geographical location of the communities and limited infrastructure for our kids to excel in other sports…

“Our knowledge of basketball was quite limited because generally in the north the only opportunities for sport are either hockey or baseball, right?”–Mark Sweeny

“All our boys grew up in a minor hockey and so we went from being hockey fans to basketball fans. In regards to basketball, it was the gym teachers and her teammates’ parents that would come up to us and say, ‘Hey, your daughter has an extra-special gift there. You might want to help her pursue that.’”

Abby got her start in community club hoops and quickly graduated to the more competitive club scene but her lack of experience was telling at first. She told her parents she wanted to make up for the skill gap, and she worked.

Although her entire Grade 9 season was wiped out by the pandemic, she found a basketball home in the busy gym and hallways of Dakota. She also found a group of students, including the Fust sisters, Izzy and Kyu, Darya Rom, Hope Larocque and Taylor Schepp, who shared in a common mission to excel.

“Once I met these girls and once I started playing with them — that chemistry was already there — we all knew what to do,” says Abby. “They’re a great group of girls. They definitely make you feel 100 per cent like family. I think that was one of the biggest things that kind of made us who we are as players and as a team.”

“Once I met these girls and once I started playing with them — that chemistry was already there — we all knew what to do”–Abby Sweeny

In last month’s provincial AAAA final, the Lancers went out on top and it was Sweeny, at her hard-nosed finest, slashing to the hoop for tough buckets and dishing the ball to teammates for open looks.

She scored 26 points in Dakota’s 84-34 triumph over the Garden City Gophers while adding three rebounds, three assists and three steals, with no turnovers.

“The final really stands out for me,” says Lancers head coach Eric Sung. “I walked into our change room after that game and I told the kids that they watched Abby play the best game of her career that night. It was one of those games where — and every athlete talks about being in the zone — she didn’t get in her own way.

“She kind of just went with the flow of the game and demanded the ball and demanded her teammates follow suit. To watch her play a game she’s played the best you’ve ever seen her play is pretty cool.”

U of W head coach Alyssa Cox believes Sweeny’s game is ready for the next level, especially while being mentored by assistant coach Robyn Boulanger, an Indigenous women who was one of the program’s finest players.

“You’d never know by watching her play that she was late coming into the game,” says Cox. “But certainly, if she’s come as far as she has in the few years that she has played, then I think that speaks to the potential for her to grow in the future.”

After considering multiple university offers, Sweeny made her commitment to the Wesmen late last month at a signing ceremony at the Duckworth Centre, surrounded by more than 50 friends, family, community members and teammates.

“It was amazing,” she says. “I can’t express how much it meant to me, especially to have my grandparents here that live up north, and most of these people (at the ceremony) do live up north, so having the support of my community like that is amazing.

“My dad took a big part in that. He called people who supported me throughout my whole journey and helped me out a lot and then the biggest thing was a lot of my family was there… I usually don’t cry but they got me crying. It was a lot of fun.”

“I usually don’t cry but they got me crying. It was a lot of fun”–Abby Sweeny

The symbolism of recognizing her supporters was very personal for the family.

“That was such a beautiful signing ceremony,” says Mark. “I think for Abby it was important for her to recognize that this was a huge achievement for her as a person and as an individual. But she knew it was just as important to include her community and her family members that played a huge role in her development as a person but in basketball as well.

“She recognizes the value of getting to inspire other young people in her community to pursue their dreams and to have hope, because basketball and sport have provided Abby a platform to be all she can be and to to achieve things — (because) our people have often lost hope through despair.”

“She recognizes the value of getting to inspire other young people in her community to pursue their dreams and to have hope, because basketball and sport have provided Abby a platform to be all she can be and to to achieve things — (because) our people have often lost hope through despair”–Mark Sweeny

Sweeny remains firmly connected to her roots. She visits both her home communities, Thompson and Cross Lake, when she is able.

Last year, she was named the Indigenous athlete of the year by the Manitoba Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Council after leading her team to a gold medal at the North American Indigenous Games in Halifax. The event inspired her to formulate a plan to raise the funding to build an indoor basketball facility in Cross Lake.

With her family providing the initial seed money for the project, they’ve retained an engineering firm to provide conceptual drawings, hoping to bring the project to fruition within two years.

“My (First) Nation has supported me in so many ways such as positive encouraging messages during my development, before big games or just sharing their own stories of hope and overcoming challenges,” she says. “My Nation makes me feel a part of the community despite living in Winnipeg and often support me financially when they can. I just felt overwhelmed with gratitude especially after winning gold at NAIG and wanted to do something meaningful.

“Kids and people my age, living in the north like my community, don’t have access to develop their athletic skills all year around like I did, simply because the facilities don’t exist and we have so many talented athletes, I really wanted to find away to give back to my community now.”

Her parents are keen to see what their daughter’s future will bring.

“We are kind of living a dream,” says Mark, noting he and his wife are both originally from Cross Lake. “Abby’s taken us to places that we’ve never seen in our lives, right? She’s excelled and her record speaks for itself.

“She’s been the leader, the quarterback of the Dakota Lancers. She’s a gold medallist. She’s achieved things at a level that we would never have thought were possible when we were at her age. I believe and I know she’s going to go to places that we haven’t seen, yet.

“We’re calling it Abby’s Drive.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca