Elevating to Stardom- The Daniel Gordon Story

Daniel Gordon was never a standout basketball player growing up. But Daniel has now managed to become one of the best players in the USports AUS conference. His journey has been anything but a straight line to success and as a result, it is full of many important life lessons that we can all learn from.

Daniel Gordon’s story begins in North York, a suburban district in Toronto, Ontario. Growing up, he had no interest in the game of basketball. In fact, he absolutely hated it. The only reason Daniel ever picked up a ball was because his mother wanted him to do something other than play video games all day. So at the age of 9, Daniel began playing club basketball. He was terrible and was cut after his first season, but he didn’t care at all. It wasn’t until he began to play for his next coach that he finally was able to care about and fall in love with the game. He credits this to the fun, passionate and charismatic approach that she brought to the team each and every day. Slowly, Daniel began to improve.

The lesson: Becoming passionate about the game is what first set Daniel on his path to becoming the player that he is today.You have to be passionate about something before you can truly reach your potential in it. Passion is what will fuel your willingness and desire to work towards achieving greatness.

A few years later, Daniel moved to Ajax, another suburb of Toronto, where he joined the Durham City Basketball Association club team. He still wasn’t very good and didn’t get much playing time, but he was able to play with and against better players in practice which helped him to identify his strengths and weaknesses. He also attended Cadarackque Way public school that year; a school with a well-known basketball program. There, he received exceptional coaching and was able to continue honing his skills against much better players on a regular basis.

Daniel would then go on to attend Pickering High School; a school with a tremendously successful basketball program and legendary coach, Ron Parfitt. According to Daniel, that experience is what first brought out his competitive side. Not only was he constantly being challenged by one of the greatest coaches in high school basketball, but he was also on a freshman team consisting of 20 players. Daniel had to compete each and every practice to earn playing over all of the other top players his age. Had he not outplayed some of those players, he would have had to sit on the bench for the entire season.

The lesson: Surround yourself with individuals who will challenge you to be your best. Being around these types of people will keep you motivated and inspired to keep progressing.

Daniel Gordon (right) & ELEVATE CEO Austin Chambers (left) attended Pickering High School and Memorial University together.

Daniel transferred to Ajax High School in the following year with the plan of capitalizing on a bigger role than he had at Pickering. He did not play as much as anticipated in his first two years at Ajax, but in grade 12 he got his chance to shine. He took advantage of his opportunity and by the end of the season he had earned team MVP and also made the regional all-star team. Daniel also played club basketball on teams that were filled with highly-recruited players and although he didn't play much on those teams, he was able to continue learning from both his coaches and teammates.

Daniel then took those valuable experiences with him to Fleming College in Peterborough, Ontario. The team wasn’t very strong, but Daniel was able to earn a lot of playing time and eventually leave his mark on Ontario college basketball. He played extremely well in that first season and led all rookies in the league in scoring. But just when things were really starting to click for Daniel, his season was unfortunately cut short after 10 games due to being put on academic probation. He didn’t take college as seriously as he should have and once the season was over he was extremely upset with himself. He knew that he missed out on winning multiple awards and so that summer, he committed himself to becoming better as a player and as a student.

The lesson: When things are going well, don't take them for granted. You may be in a good position now but you cannot stop doing what got you into that position in the first place.

“By the time my second season rolled around, I was ready to kill.”

Daniel finished his second season at Fleming as the leading scorer in the country and was named a 2nd team all-star. After that season, Daniel joined the Memorial University Seahawks in St. John’s, Newfoundland and has enjoyed being one of the team’s main offensive weapons. Overall, his journey has taught him that the road to success is not a straight line. There are going to be ups and downs along the way and you must remain focused through it all.

Daniel's words of wisdom: “Just because things don’t go the way you want in the beginning, it doesn’t mean that you can’t make it a happy ending.”