By Joseph Staszewski
Dominique Toussaint understands her time as a star for Christ the King is finished. It leaves her with the need to prove herself all over again as she heads to the University of Virginia this fall and tries to earn a chance to represent her country in a month.
“I’m not the best anymore,” Toussaint said. “I’m back at the bottom. I got to work my way back up.”
The senior point guard said she took only about a week off since the Royals’ season ended in March, thanks to the Jordan Brand Classic and now tryouts for the USA U18 team from May 27-31 in Colorado Springs. She had senioritis for a moment, before brushing it aside.
“Getting back into workouts was a little difficult,” Toussaint said. “My mindset was I am getting ready for college, but I already have my college so I don’t have to work hard. But I had to get the mentality again that I still have stuff I need to accomplish.”
Toussaint, ranked the No. 49 prospect in the country by ESPN, knows that earning a spot on Team USA won’t be easy, since she’ll be going against the best of the best from around the country. She just wants to make sure she solidifies the fact that she belongs.
“It’s a big motivator,” Toussaint said. “It’s something I want to achieve, even just going there and showing out, even if I don’t make the team, I know I will have accomplished something. I did not want to go there and not perform as well as I can.”
It is why she is working three days a week with Christ the King trainer Anton Turkovic to get in the best shape possible for U.S. tryouts and prepare for the thinner air in Colorado.
Toussaint, New York State’s Miss Basketball and Gatorade Player of the Year, makes the drive from Staten Island to meet him at an Astoria gym during the week and at Riis Park Beach on Sunday to run and train in the sands.
Turkovic has tried to vary her cardio so her body never gets comfortable. She will be on the elliptical, run, do spin class or even box during their sessions. The randomness is something Toussaint enjoys.
“He gives you a task to do that you have never done before,” she said of Turkovic. “You can’t get ready for it. You can never get comfortable doing the workout.”
Those are in addition to her basketball workouts with shooting coach Anthony Passalacqua on Staten Island and famed Long Island trainer Jerry Powell. She is also playing in the Rose Classic fall league.
As a senior, Toussaint averaged 19.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game and was named the TimesLedger Newspapers All-Queens girls basketball player of the year. She did so after coming to the Royals with little hype, before working her way up.
If she needs extra motivation to do it again in the next chapter of her career, all she needs to do it pick up her phone.
“The background on my phone is USA Basketball,” Toussaint said. “You have to always remind yourself why you are doing it.”
