Heather LaFontaine is entering her seventh season as head coach of the women’s basketball program.
The long-time physical education teacher at Paul Dwyer in Oshawa and Father Leo J. Austin in Whitby has led her high school teams to an amazing 14 Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (LOSSA) championship titles and an equally impressive 14 trips to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) provincial basketball championships.
In her first year as head coach at Durham, LaFontaine led the Lords to a program-high 23 overall wins and earned an automatic bye into the provincial championship after finishing in second place in the OCAA east region with a 13-3 conference record. It was quite a turnaround season for the green-and-gold as they ended previous year with a 3-15 conference record, missing out on a berth in the OCAA championship for the seventh straight season. The Lords also had plenty of success off the court as over half of the roster finished the first semester on the honour roll.
Her basketball resume also includes co-founding and coaching rep club teams in the successful and well-respected Whitby Wildcats Basketball Club program for the past 16 years, which she is still actively involved with.
Other coaching benchmarks and accomplishments for LaFontaine, who currently is a Guidance Counselor at Father Leo J. Austin, include involvement with the Toronto Raptors Basketball Camp, original Durham College Kids Summer Basketball Camp program, Dick Baumgartner Basketball Shooting Camp (Indiana) and Future Stars Basketball Camp.
Lafontaine has been recognized with the prestigious Pete Bleach Award for outstanding contribution to high school athletics in Durham Region; the Colin Hood Award for contributions to high school athletics in Ontario; the OFSAA Leadership Award; prestigious Ontario Volunteer Service Award in 2012 and the Basketball Ontario Volunteer Recognition Award.
