Après TFS - Philip Jevtovic

PHILIP JEVTOVIC - I graduated from TFS in 2010 and took a gap year playing basketball at a prep school in Toronto. I then went to McGill, where I studied economics and political science. For my first two years at McGill, I played on the varsity basketball team. For my third and fourth years, I was on the coaching team. I graduated in 2015 and moved back to Toronto. I worked for a year at a mutual fund company called CI Investments. On the side, I was helping Canada Basketball with any work they needed, from analytics to performance analysis to coaching. In the fall of 2016, I was hired at Canada Basketball full-time. I've been there ever since. It's been a super fun ride with the national team. I am the director of analytics and strategy for all our high-performance programs at the organization and a coach on several teams. I'm the assistant coach on the senior men's national team and was a part of the Olympic team staff this past summer. I also got my MBA from the University of Toronto Rotman program in 2023. 

PHILIP: I work with our national basketball federation, Canada Basketball. I'm involved in data analytics, strategy, and performance analysis and a coach for various programs. What does a day in my life look like? Well, it really depends on what time of year it is. Canada Basketball differs from an NBA or professional sports team because we don’t have a set season. We operate in little windows of competition throughout the year. For example, we have games in November, so much of my time will be spent coaching on the court. When on the court, my primary responsibilities include helping with opponents, scouting, preparing and working with our players. Between games my days involve a lot of administrative work, we'll also plan for our upcoming games and spend time working with our youth programs. The most fun, busy times of year are, of course, when we compete. For example, this summer at the Olympic Games, it was all hands on deck all day every day, getting ready for the next game, practices, working with the athletes and doing everything to put the team in as good a position as possible to win. 

PHILIP: I'm incredibly honoured to be a part of the Canadian national basketball team program. It's been an incredible opportunity for me, and I've learned a ton and grown through these past eight years with the organization. One of the most exciting and fulfilling parts of my job is seeing athletes enter our Junior Academy programs at 11 or 12 years old and follow our programs all the way through. Some of them end up representing our country at the international level. That's incredibly fulfilling and rewarding, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention being part of the Olympic games this past summer. It was an incredible experience being part of the broader Team Canada and representing our country. We fell short of our ultimate goal of winning a medal, but we learned a ton, and the team will hopefully be in Los Angeles in 2028 competing for a medal! 

TFS: How did your experience at TFS help you get to where you are now? Were there any specific courses, extracurricular activities, experiences, or projects you participated in at TFS that helped prepare you?

PHILIP: I was really heavily involved in TFS Athletics from the moment I began. I started at TFS in grade seven. I was involved in a variety of sports, but soccer and basketball were the sports that I stuck with all the way through Level V. I started coaching basketball when I was in Level IV, which offered a lot of growth for me from a leadership standpoint. TFS also really laid a strong academic foundation for me. Because I was pushed from an early age and developed those skills, I’ve been able to do things like get my MBA while working full time. 

PHILIP: French opened so many doors that wouldn't have been possible if I was only fluent in one language. Spanish, which I also learned at TFS, has been helpful as well. I got my first job at CI Investments because they needed someone that spoke French. In my current position at Canada Basketball, I have the opportunity to build relationships with a broader group of people than if I only spoke English. French and Spanish have been very beneficial when travelling abroad. We play games throughout Latin America and Europe. Our athletes also have coaches in Quebec, and speaking with coaches and parents is often more comfortable in French. Knowing French has been super helpful in removing some of the barriers to building relationships and opening doors to other opportunities. 

PHILIP: The two things that TFS always really emphasized while I was there were the ability to communicate and attention to detail. TFS really pushed me to be capable because of how academically rigorous it is. There was only a little room to hide because of how small the class sizes were, so I was pushed outside of my comfort zone. In group work, presentations and across all the class work we had to do, paying attention to detail was crucial. On top of that, the teachers were all excellent. They would pinpoint things and push me to improve on what I needed. I carry that rigorous perspective to this day. The foundation that TFS laid for me means that I don't gloss over my work and always put my best foot forward. Looking back at my time at TFS, I value the rigour. It was cool that everyone valued hard work and academic success. Being surrounded by peers who had an interest in being a good student was a precious experience to have from a young age. 

TFS: What advice would you give to current students?

PHILIP: I've found that TFS students are always curious and very willing to take the initiative, and my advice is to stick with that curiosity through university and the rest of your life. If you are interested in a career in sports, there are so many ways to get involved immediately. There's a lot of data that you can access publicly online, do work, reach out to your network and then build a portfolio that you can share with prospective employers. Leverage the communication skills that you learned at TFS, they are valuable. So take initiative and stay curious. 

PHILIP: TFS is rigorous academically, but everything there is very structured. You're guided through almost everything. You have to work hard, but the support is solid. Once you leave that friendly, supportive system, you're thrown into a giant pool where everyone is for themselves, whether at undergrad or entering the job market. You have a strong academic foundation that will help you, but make sure you try to get through it with others. Take initiative and find the resources there for you. They won't come to you. Get involved with as many things as possible, within reason of course, and build a community. It will be hard, but seeking support and finding those resources instead of waiting for them to appear will help you get started on the right foot. 

PHILIP: I definitely had quite a few memorable experiences, but the stand out has to be winning the city soccer championship in Level V. It was the same group of my closest friends who I had been playing with since grade seven, having that experience with them was really one of a kind. The previous year, in Level IV, we thought we would win. We made it to the semi-finals and ended up losing in a penalty shootout. So the following year, we came back and worked hard. We weren't particularly amazing, but we put in the work the whole season, and everything came together for us to beat our arch-rival, Crescent School. We were down early during the game, but we came back and winning was one of the proudest moments ever. I remember a big dog pile with our coach at the bottom. We were all crying. It was a lower division city championship, but it meant a lot to us because we had put so much into winning it after losing the previous year. We were proud of that. It was such a significant moment in my life at the time.