By Cam Johnsen

Being a Marauder student-athlete means using sport as a medium to give back to the community. McMaster men's basketball and kinesiology alum Aaron Redpath is taking this tradition one step further by teaching the next generation of young athletes the important habits he learned as a high-level professional.

Growing up as a dual sport athlete in soccer and basketball, the Oakville, Ont. product began to see a promising future in the latter when he experienced a six-inch growth spurt between his Grade 10 and 11 seasons. Part of a J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate team that ranked second in the nation, Redpath starred as a volume scoring shooting guard, leading to heavy recruiting interest from NCAA and CIS (now U SPORTS) schools.

"In high school, all I really focused on was shooting and scoring – that was my role," he recalled. "It wasn't until I was getting recruited out of high school that other coaches were noticing, 'hey, you can pass the ball and handle a little bit.' They showed me that they had confidence in me doing things beyond scoring."

One of those coaches was Amos Connolly, head coach of McMaster's men's basketball program at the time. Connolly took a chance on making Redpath the facilitator of the Marauder offense, moving him to point guard in his 2011-12 rookie campaign. The move paid off, with Redpath putting up averages of 11.7 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game en route to OUA West All-Rookie team honours.

Redpath would go on to have a historic 109-game career in maroon, helping lead the Marauders in 2014 to their first national playoff berth in almost a decade. He earned an OUA All-Star selection in his fourth season the following year.

"McMaster really helped me to develop habits," he said.  "I started to understand the value of consistency, studying opponents' tendencies on film, structured strength and conditioning training – I became a more cerebral player."

That dedication would earn him the chance to play professionally in Zamora, Spain following his graduation in 2016. The road to a professional contract wasn't easy, though. Redpath worked with three different agents that summer, continuing to train while waiting patiently for his next opportunity.

"During that time there were a lot of thoughts running through my head," he remembered. "It was mentally tough. I did think, 'maybe this might be it,' but I never fully processed life without playing basketball. I had to give it my all."

Redpath's persistence paid off in spades, and his professional career flourished beyond that first contract. After a 30-game tenure in Spain, he returned home to play two seasons in Canada's National Basketball League with stops in St. John and Cape Breton, where he earned an All-Canadian selection. His most productive campaign came in 2019 in the inaugural season of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), where he averaged 11.0 points on an impressive 41.9 per cent three-point shooting with the Guelph Nighthawks.

"It was cool to compete against former NBA and high-level American guys," he said. "The most important thing for me was to be a sponge and learn everything I could from coaches, teammates and opponents."

By his own description, Redpath's career was defined by a continuous desire to get better through learning. It wouldn't take him long to find an avenue to continue pursuing that passion. Following his stint in the CEBL, Redpath turned his full attention to a skill he had been developing throughout his playing career: coaching.

Redpath began coaching basketball summer camps as a high school athlete, later hosting his own clinics and private sessions throughout his university career. In his professional off-seasons he would dedicate as much time as he could to coaching, spending the time he had outside of training hosting youth summer camps.

"I had always had a passion for coaching," he said. "While I was playing, I was developing curriculums to help teach what I wish I would've learned earlier in my playing career."

After stepping away from playing, he worked with his hometown Oakville Basketball Club before committing full-time to his own academy, Purpose Driven Mentality. Founded in 2019, the program aims to help players to excel early in their careers by preparing them for how basketball is taught at the collegiate and professional levels. The schedule runs for 10 weeks and includes on-court instruction, film sessions and virtual content.

But Redpath's pursuit of better youth sports didn't end with basketball. He noticed a youth sports industry that was becoming increasingly crowded and inaccessible for families. He wanted to create a one-stop shop to provide a variety of sport programs with access to quality coaches, educational resources and sport medicine professionals. That vision came to life with the founding of Nucleus Sports Group in 2022.

"Nowadays, it's so hard to navigate the youth sports landscape. One of the main points of Nucleus is to educate," he said. "We've developed a framework where coaches are supported and informed, parents are educated on best practices for healthy growth and development, and above all else, the athletes are enjoying their experience."

The organization runs basketball, flag football and multi-sport programs for ages six to 17 throughout the greater Toronto and Halton regions. They service over 100 athletes and obtained an affiliation with the National Football League's NFL FLAG program this year.

Redpath says that his goal is to bring to youth sports the same combination of purpose and fun that he experienced in his professional career. He stresses the importance of consistency at all ages and in all aspects of life, not just sports.

"Make sure you're instilling the right habits in your day-to-day practices. When my time came, it came only because I was prepared," he said. "If the right habits aren't instilled, it's easy to fall off. The habits are going to take you there."

Through his dedication to youth sport, Aaron Redpath is helping the next generation of athletes develop the habits they'll need for when their time comes, too.