It had been a long time coming for St. Thomas University Tommies' head coach Fred Connors. A former Tommies' basketball player himself, he had been named head coach of the Women's basketball team in 2001. Fred, the father of Nikki, Emma and Charlee, are pulling off a once in a lifetime experience - the four are all members of the Tommies' Women's Basketball program.
"This is special," Fred said of the opportunity. "This is not something you'll see in most programs - maybe anywhere."
The family is aware this is their only shot at this. Nikki, the team's student-trainer, will be graduating from the University of New Brunswick this year while Emma, a fourth-year student, is unsure of her future beyond the 2022-23 season. The two are twins.
As the four Connors sat in Fred's office at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym after practice, it had been a surprising first-time event for the basketball driven family - they'd never sat down to discuss just basketball.
"We're so friggin' busy," Fred said as his daughters laughed. Coach Connors was now 'dad.'
"We don't really sit around and do nothing because they're so busy. They've all got jobs, they volunteer - we're not a house of sitting around and talking." The family rarely gets the opportunity to sit down during the season. Most meals are prepared and heated up by Marcie Connors, Fred's wife and the mother of Emma, Nikki and Charlee.
"We're so lucky - Marcie does a ton of work when we're not there to make it work," Fred said of Marcie, also known as the "general manager," as Fred puts it. She's at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym for nearly every game.
When the family does get a chance to relax, basketball is often put to the side. Fred doesn't coach during father time, a role most important to him. But that doesn't mean it's always been as easy. Fred recalled one of his biggest challenges during Emma's younger years.
"We're sitting down to eat supper and I asked Emma to pass me a fork," Fred explained. "She tried to rifle it through my left eyeball."
Emma said he had given her a hard time at practice that night for not boxing out. The two laugh about it now.
Emma has had her challenges as well, being the 'coach's kid' growing up. When basketball started to become competitive, she recalled memories of other players saying she had made the team because of her dad.
"I would get comments," Emma said. "But it doesn't happen anymore, now that we're older. This team is very respectful."
As the three have gotten older, they've come to understand it more. Fred has coached all three in the past enough for his kids to know whatever happens on the court stays on the court. But he's noticed a new dynamic this year.
"They still treat each other like sisters," he said with a smile. The three had never been on the same team all together. "They're used to it with me but for this, they're still working through it. This is still brand new to them ... I'm just trying to get them to enjoy it."
The thought of a team full of Connors hadn't been in Fred's head until last summer.
When recruiting Charlee, Fred wasn't as sure if he'd be able to land another Connors prospect. Charlee and Marcie had already gone on a recruitment trip. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later when Charlee had decided against it and wanted to see what else was out there. It was then Fred had the thought of possibly having two of his daughters on his team. During this time, Nikki, the 'oldest' of the three and a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology student at the University of New Brunswick, had approached her dad and John Hickey, head coach of the Men's Basketball team, to see if a student trainer was needed for either team the next season.
"We all sat down and we're all kind of looking around at each other like 'we could actually pull this off,'" Fred recalled.
For Charlee, joining the Tommies hadn't been a thought until Emma joined in 2019. Charlee said the thought had always been in the back of her head, but seeing her older sister join gave her the motivation and knowledge of how to get to that level. Having seen Emma practice and watching her father coach her and the Tommies gave Charlee the information on what type of player she needed to be to fit in at the ACAA level.
"It clicked when Emma joined," Charlee said. "It was more motivation to start doing better and go to the gym outside of practices."
Emma, the 'middle child' was the first to join the Tommies, making her Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association in 2019. Fred recalled knowing what type of player he was looking for in his '19 recruitment class - someone who could defend, move the ball and most importantly, passionate about basketball. It was then he realized that player was already next to him.
Emma had always wanted to go into social work, so academically, it lined up perfectly. It wasn't until her final year of high school when she realized she may be good enough to take the next step.
"I was never soley focused on basketball," Emma said. "Dad and I had a conversation and we talked about the possibility."
Emma said she then prepped herself to get ready for ACAA basketball.
Nikki had played basketball up to the seventh grade when she decided it might not be for her. She had been a fantastic swimmer and wanted to pursue that instead. Having grown up in a basketball family, she never felt pressure to pursue basketball. Fred made it clear that none of his girls had to pursue basketball. He wanted them to find something they enjoyed doing.
Still, Nikki knows the game quite well. She was constantly around it going through high school, despite not playing anymore, having been hired as the scorekeeper and working the shot clock for Fredericton High School. Even when she had transferred to Leo Hayes High School, where she graduated, she still worked at the FHS games.
"Watching from the side is a lot of fun and being able to help has been really important to me," Nikki said.
Nikki said when other players get hurt, she's in trainer mode but when she's working on one of her sisters, it's hard not to feel a little sadder.
"Obviously I care and want to help everyone," she said. "But when it's your own sister, you're sad that she's in pain and hurting. So having to step back and piece together my knowledge and push back that subconscious feeling of 'oh, she's my sister,' is a little bit hard. But it's been a really good experience so far."
The experience has been a once in a lifetime opportunity for the four. Fred, who is a father first and coach second, said there are challenges that come along with what the family is pulling off. But more times than not, he's more than happy.
"It's been amazing as a dad, to have them all here all the time. Sometimes, they act like sisters here [at the gym] and I go home and wish we weren't doing this," Fred said with a smile. His daughters all let out a laugh.
"But 95 per cent of the time, I'm pretty happy."
The Tommies are strong contenders for an ACAA title this season - coming off a loss in the 2022 finals to the Mount Saint Vincent University Mystics, STU has proven to be contenders yet again, heading into the Winter Semester with a 6-2 record. They're tied with the Holland College Hurricanes for second in the ACAA.
But for Fred, when it comes down to it, he hopes his daughters are able to realize the opportunity at hand. After all - this is their only shot at it.
"I hope they can pause for a moment and try to enjoy all of this," he said. "This has a shelf life - this will come to an end. So, I hope they're enjoying it the way I'm enjoying it."