Fifth-year point guard Teshayn Gayle has had an exciting journey with the George Brown Huskies men’s basketball program. After playing four seasons and earning an OCAA silver medal in 2017, he became an assistant coach for the 2019-2020 season. He was a part of the program’s first OCAA Championship since 1976.
“The transition was very interesting. Early on, I had to realize that I was looking at the game from a player's point of view and not from a coaches,” he explained. “Learning how to receive information and trying to get 20 other people to understand it all at once every day was a leadership skill that I had to pick up on throughout the season.”
Fast forward a year and a half since that gold medal win, the point guard returns to the court for his final collegiate season. His goals for this school year are pretty simple.
“My expectations for this school year are to pass all my classes with flying colours and graduate from my program, make great memories as a player and finally, become back-to-back champions,” Gayle said.
The veteran was recruited out of high school after playing in a tournament George Brown College hosted in 2015. Gayle had his fair share of offers from different institutions, but he felt George Brown was the right fit.
“I really wanted to stay in the city, and travelling downtown every day was the perfect fit, along with the culture the basketball team had,” he stated. “They brought me in when I was in high school for a couple of practices, workouts and invited me to games. That made me feel extremely comfortable with the program.”
During his four seasons, Gayle was the definition of a spark plug off the bench. His intensity gave the team much-needed energy at critical points in the game. He started in 22 of the 69 games in his career while averaging 7.3 points, 3.1 assists, 2.9 assists and one steal per game. He was a part of the Huskies team that claimed an OCAA silver medal and earned a berth at the CCAA National Championship in 2017.
The athlete part is only one aspect of being a student-athlete. In addition to school, Gayle has worked in the Athletics and Recreation Department, assisting in the day-to-day work in facilities. Juggling all three commitments is highly challenging to say the least, but he found a way to succeed in all three realms.
“I didn't really figure it out until about three years ago. It’s all about sacrifice, and thinking for the future” he stated. “Working less didn't always mean less money. It meant more time for school, more time for school meant less stress for basketball, and less stress for basketball led to success on the court. Once I switched my perspective to that, life got a bit easier in terms of balancing.”
After four years of playing, Gayle switched to assistant coach for the 2019-2020 under first-year and current head coach Jason Dawkins. His relationship with Dawkins and his love for basketball were reasons why he decided to join the bench.
“Dawkins always knew my plans of becoming a coach one day. I think he sees a lot of himself in me and decided to take me under his wing. He pretty much mentored and guided me on how things are done and how they're supposed to be done,” he explained. “I got to see how things are run from a different lens, and I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. Who knows how things would have turned out if Coach Dawkins had never come to George Brown. It ended up working out great winning a championship.”
One of the biggest lessons he learned during that season was patience. Being patient with other coaches, referees, the process, but more importantly, patient with himself. His play reflected that in an exhibition game against the Redeemer Royals in late November when he dropped a team-high 32 points.
With a ton of new faces on the roster looking to help the program repeat as OCAA Champions, Gayle wants to contribute to the team's success and culture.
“Being at George Brown has helped shape me. I’ve seen a lot of great athletes come and go, whether they won or broke records, they were great role models for me,” he said. “I just hope to continue that for the first-year guys and be as memorable to them as the older guys were to me when I first started.”
Gayle is working towards graduating from the Carpentry and Renovation Technician program. When he looks into his future, he hopes to do a few things primarily related to basketball.
“My goals after George Brown are to get a job in my field, continue to coach basketball and eventually get involved in the basketball community whether I am hosting tournaments or doing something on the media side,” he said.
Gayle kept it short and sweet when he had a chance to reflect on the meaning of being a Husky so far.
“Being a Husky is being a great student, great competitor, great athlete and a champion in victory or defeat,” he said.
The George Brown Huskies men’s basketball team starts defending their OCAA Championship in the New Year on Friday, January 7th, when they host the Centennial Colts.
