By Keiran Gorsky
With 45 players set to graduate across the eight Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) varsity teams following the end of their respective seasons, the question of what comes after university looms—some may return for a fifth-year with the Bold, while others may retire from their sport completely. The rest may take their craft to the next level.
Canadian university athletes are increasingly using the U Sports system as a launching pad for professional careers and TMU Bold alumni are at the centre of this trend.
Stationed on university campuses and in the shadow of bigger leagues such as the National College Athletes Association, some may see U Sports as part of a niche Canadian sporting sphere, taking the country’s young talents and churning them out into Canadian leagues, teams or careers outside of sports. Still, TMU’s record books exemplify another path—from the United States all the way to China, a plethora of Bold products have taken their talents all over the world.
Here’s where you can find Bold around the globe.
Simon Chamberlain:
After spending two years with the Bold and scoring 345 points, forward Simon Chamberlain travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to play pro with the Reading Rockets in England’s National Basketball League (NBL) this season.
For Chamberlain, the move has brought a lot of change. For example, he doesn’t own a blender anymore. Those extravagant rituals—the multi-berried smoothies and egg white omelettes he whipped up at home while living in Toronto—didn’t follow him across the ocean.
What else does he miss? How about the peace and quiet of the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC)? The MAC locker room is far from the court itself, separated by a whole floor. For the Rockets, home court sits smack in the middle of the bustling Loddon Valley Leisure Centre, a community centre featuring 10 courts, swimming pools and more.
“There’s not really a place off to the side where you can meditate without having people around you,” said Chamberlain.
Nevertheless, he has made his mark with the Rockets, with 140 points and an average of 19.5 minutes on the court per game across 19 games in the NBL.
Ameer Kinani:
Ameer Kinani was chosen second overall at the 2023 Canadian Premier League (CPL) U Sports Draft by expansion side Vancouver FC following a brief but productive stint with the Bold men’s soccer team.
He found the net seven times in 13 appearances, helping the Bold reach the U Sports Men’s Soccer Championship in 2022. Kinani spent just one season with the Langley, B.C.-based club but holds the distinction of most CPL appearances of any Bold draftee. He’s also the only one to ever score a goal in the league.
Last year, Kinani signed with Duhok SC in Iraq, his native country and the one he previously represented as a youth international. He made just a single appearance, logging all of eight minutes before departing for Al-Khaburah in the Oman Professional League. Things are looking up in Oman, where he’s already tallied two goals in four appearances.
Navreet Suhan:
Navreet Suhan, otherwise known as the ‘middle with the turban,’ was at the centre of the TMU men’s volleyball team’s defence for three seasons, recording 147 blocks during his time with the Bold. He transferred from TMU to McMaster University in 2021, where he played his final Ontario University Athletics (OUA) season with the Marauders.
As previously reported by The Eyeopener, Suhan was involved in an incident in Florida, where he, a practicing Sikh, was nearly ejected from a game for wearing his turban. Nevertheless, he pushed ahead and has taken his talents to the professional sphere.
Since his U Sports career, Suhan’s professional career has bounded across Europe, from SC Caldas in Portugal to SKV Ustí nad Labem in Czechia to CD Cisneros Alter in Tenerife, where he presently plies his trade in the Spanish SuperLiga.
The controversy around his turban hasn’t dissipated. He was held out of his second-ever game in Spain, a situation the Royal Spanish Volleyball Federation had never encountered before—according to footboom1.com.
“Now that the player has explained, the club has supported him, and the federation has issued an authorization for him to play with the turban,” an official from the organization told FootBoom.
Despite the discrimination Suhan has faced, the middle blocker is still thriving with h,is club, donning a number 10 on his chest and appearing in at least a win or two for Cisneros Alter.
Dani Fox:
An unfortunate pattern with exceptional talent is how quickly some Bold athletes depart. Dani Fox recorded 15 points in 27 games in her only season for the Bold women’s hockey team before signing with Kunlun Red Star (KRS) Shenzhen in the newly-professional Chinese Women’s Ice Hockey League (CWIHL).
If that name seems familiar, it’s probably because KRS have also produced their fair share of Olympians. 27 players at the women’s ice hockey tournament at the 2022 Winter Olympics played for KRS, including the entirety of China’s roster at that competition.
Fox’s output has doubled in China, where she posted 27 points in 24 games this season, topping the whole league.
Alexia Rhooms:
Defender Alexia Rhooms started all 20 matches she played over two seasons for the Bold women’s soccer team after time away from the sport due to injuries and school. This past January, she signed with Länk FC Vilaverdense in the Campeonato Nacional Feminino, Portugal’s top tier of women’s soccer.
It’s a league that active players on the Canadian women’s national soccer team have passed through, from Cloé Lacasse—who played for SL Benfica—to Olivia Smith, who spent time with Sporting CP. Rhooms, a fullback, is yet to appear for her new club.
Kyle Bollers:
Kyle Bollers only became more dominant throughout his three seasons for the Bold men’s hockey team. His 13 goals during the shortened 2021-22 OUA season were good enough to top the league in scoring and net him OUA Rookie of the Year. He put up a total of 97 points in 61 games at TMU.
Two first-team all-star nominations and a bundle of awards later, Bollers signed his first-ever professional contract with the Cincinnati Cyclones at the tail end of the 2023-24 season. The Cyclones are currently the ECHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Sometimes, when he scores, it rains teddy bears.
Julie Moore:
Born and raised in Halifax, N.S. and the daughter of Olympian Karen Moore, Julie Moore transferred to TMU in 2022 from Dalhousie University to pursue a master’s degree in fashion. She recorded 161 kills in her single season with the Bold, landing her on the OUA’s first all-star team to go along with her four Atlantic University Sport all-star nominations.
In 2023, she signed with Gislaveds VBK, a team in Gislaved, Sweden, a small town of 10,000 people that happens to play in the Elitserien, the highest-level division of women’s volleyball in the country. This season, she swapped Scandinavian cities, heading down to Brondby in the Danish Volleyligaen.
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