The Toronto Raptors recent appearance in the NBA playoffs brought a smile to the face of many a Sudbury and area basketball fan.

Few, however, enjoyed a smile wider and brighter than Gabi Schwabe.

The 27 year-old local resident is closing in on her fourth anniversary serving as Team Operations Specialist with the franchise that was crowned world champions back in 2019.

Experiencing post-season play for the first time and sharing that experience with family ranks among the many highlights for a young woman who is equal parts incredibly appreciative of the opportunity that she has been given and keenly aware of just how much she has contributed to make this dream become a reality.

“This doesn’t feel like work,” said Schwabe – which is not to say that the graduate of the Sports Administration program at Laurentian University is hardly working. As most anyone involved as a support staff in the world of professional sports well knows, work days can be long and tiring – and exceedingly rewarding.

A graduate of Marymount Academy, Schwabe veered in the latter stages of grade 12, foregoing an earlier desire to perhaps pursue a career in kinesiology to follow in the footsteps of older sister Katarina and the Sports Admin pathway.

Looking back, for as much as she did not possess a clear vision of what the world of “Sports Operations” was all about, Schwabe was certain that she very much enjoyed the world of sports, in general, and basketball, more specifically.

Volunteer involvement on a local level helped to paint a better picture.

“All of the work that I did with the Wolves, the Sudbury Five, the Spartans, that was really good to understand how a sports organization works,” she said. The roles might seem tedious, but each and every one set the stage for the next step.

An internship with Canada Basketball immersed Schwabe in an interesting capacity with the Women’s High Performance program and, at least as importantly in her mind, the chance to work with an NSO (National Sports Organization).

“They rely on their interns, so you are thrown right in,” explained Schwabe. “You can go to school and get as much education as you can, but there’s no better way to learn and get experience than hands-on learning.”

And learn she did, making a very good impression if one is to gauge from the fact that upon graduation, this northern ball of energy would be offered a full-time position with that same organization. The fit was a good one, indeed.

“I knew that I liked to keep things organized,” said Schwabe. “I knew that I liked logistics and operations – even if I didn’t really know exactly what that looked like.”

And she knew that when the opening with the Raptors was unveiled, it was definitely one worth pursuing. Though a lengthy series of interviews was part of the process, the end results was definitely to hit the ground running.

“My very first day on the job (August 2022), I flew to L.A. (Los Angeles) to meet up with the team for a week of summer workouts. You are right into it.”

And for as much as all previous stops had proven fruitful, this was still, after all, the NBA.

“I look back on my first year with the Raptors compared to now and I thought I knew so much coming in – but you really don’t know much until you experience more.”

Central to all that she would sample lies the fact that Gabi Schwabe processes it through an incredible filter of positivity, one that cannot help but to be shared with those with whom she is in contact with on a regular basis. For as much as the stretch from the start of training camp through 'til the final game of the year is often described as a grind (by athletes, coaches and staff alike), the youngest of four children in the family continuously sees a glass half full.

“This job is a dream come true,” she said. “I think I love it so much because you feel so much part of the team. Every single day, I feel that what I do genuinely matters.” The very nature of her role requires Schwabe to maintain some degree of contact with the players and key staff.

Gaining acceptance in that landscape did not require any kind of re-invention of the wheel, as they say. “The number one thing is just being a hard worker,” said Schwabe. “You have to be willing to put in the work, especially with a professional sports team where the reality is that you are spending a whole lot of hours each day on the job.”

“The other thing is passion.”

The travel can be both grueling - and exhilarating. Christmas in New York means you are, by necessity, away from family – but you are also in New York City, at Christmas, for all the splendor that the "City that never sleeps" has to offer. Gabi Schwabe has learned to appreciate the latter while taking the former in stride.

There is, after all, not a whole that compares to enjoying a Toronto Raptors playoff game, with your parents, with some of the best seats in the house.