Forest Mahoney: Achieving balance between academics, athletics as AAC Top 8 nominee

By John DeCoste '77

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - Academics has always come relatively easy to Acadia student-athlete Forest Mahoney. This year, he is enjoying seeing the athletic side of his university experience finally starting to catch up.

"I've enjoyed being here (at Acadia) a lot, but especially this year," says Mahoney, an Ontario native who is in his fifth year of university overall and his third at Acadia as a science (physics) major and varsity basketball player.

He was recently chosen as Acadia's male nominee for the U-Sports Top-8 Academic All-Canadian designation, which he sees as an honour but, at the same time, part of his academic progression.

"Honestly," he says, "I didn't realize the Top-8 Academic All-Canadians was even something to consider until Zach Visser won it last year. I'm pretty competitive, and I apply that to my academics. I always like to try and be the best, in everything I do. I didn't know Zach personally, but once I knew there was an award, I began to think more about it" and take the possibility more seriously.

He points out, "a lot of the skills that make you a good student don't necessarily translate to athletics," and vice versa. "A lot of athletics is a 'blink reaction'. You have to make instant decisions, and by the time you take the time to think about it, usually the moment is gone."

Mahoney has always been a good student. Becoming a good basketball player not only took longer, it required a whole different skill set. "When I started playing basketball in Grade 9, I enjoyed the skills development more than the actual playing. It's made my basketball career a little more challenging."

Athletically, this year, he has turned a corner. "It's finally starting to come. I can see it, and others have told me they can see it. A lot of it is becoming more familiar with it," but the bottom line is, Mahoney is having the most fun he has ever had playing basketball, and it's showing in his play.

At the Christmas break, he was averaging a solid 11.3 points and eight rebounds per game for the Axemen, along with a 59.3 shooting percentage and 18 blocked shots, both tops in the AUBC.

Coming out of high school, he says, "I probably could have used an extra year to develop. Mentally and academically, I was ready for university, but physically, I probably wasn't ready for university basketball. It's been a continuous development," and he acknowledged, "it feels good when you finally get there."

Beachburg, Ontario, an hour or so west of Ottawa, where Mahoney grew up, is small enough that "it doesn't even have its own high school." Mahoney attended high school in nearby Pembroke.

"I started out at an all-French elementary school, then attended an English high school because it had a basketball team and the other school didn't." Even though he has "always found basketball a challenge" athletically, he enjoys the sport, and it was one of the factors in his choice of university.

One of the factors, but not the only factor. After "applying to 13 different universities, all across the country" including Acadia, Mahoney chose to enroll at Bishop's University, in rural Lennoxville, Quebec in the fall of 2015.

He acknowledged he was "pretty indecisive" at the time over his decision, but he "liked the small school dynamic." Both his parents and his sister had attended Acadia, and while he was drawn to Wolfville, at the time, he "didn't want to do the 'family thing. That's why I chose Bishop's."

He played a year of varsity basketball at Bishop's and did a second year there as a student "while I decided what I wanted to do." Ultimately, he realized "Acadia was the place for me." His brother Logan, also a varsity basketball player, chose Acadia "directly out of high school," so now the Mahoney family comprises "an Acadia quintet."

While Mahoney has "no regrets" over his decision to transfer to Acadia, he acknowledges it was "a difficult decision to make. Leaving the basketball program at Bishop's was easier than the decision to leave Bishop's itself, as a school. I picked Acadia because of its similarities to Bishop's, both academically and in terms of the community interaction with the school."

Mahoney has enjoyed all three years of basketball he has played at Acadia. "It's still a challenge, but I've grown to embrace the challenge." He admits, "when I find basketball easiest is when I'm being challenged in the rest of my life. I can compete, and be physical, and not think about it."

He is "really enjoying the group of teammates we have here this year," and believes the Axemen will continue to improve as a team after Christmas. "I'm having fun, and it's a good feeling."

Due to balancing school and basketball and "underloading my courses the last two semesters," he finished the 2018-2019 academic year a few credits short of earning his degree. "I had a decision to make about coming back for a fifth year, and I'm really happy with the decision I made."

Acadia "has a more diverse course load" than Bishop's, "so when I transferred, I had some catching up to do (academically), but now I'm back on track to finish my credits by the end of this semester." The second semester, "I'll be taking a few extra credits to position myself for what I'd like to do next."

As for what that might be, Mahoney acknowledges, "that's a good question." When he started university, "I really didn't know what I wanted to do," other than play basketball. "A conversation I had with one of my professors at Bishop's steered me toward physics."

He has done "a couple of summer internships," but has decided "I probably won't be looking at a career in physics. I'd like something a little more 'hands-on'." He is now "leaning more toward the health sciences, specifically medicine. The courses I've taken the last two years have reflected that."

Medicine as a profession runs in his family, but "coming out of high school, I was thinking anything but medicine. I wanted to 'buck the family trend', but these days, I'm finding it harder to buck." He says his interests tend to be "more biological rather than science or math."

He toyed with the idea of finishing out a fifth and final year of varsity eligibility, but now, has pretty much decided "I won't be coming back next year." Fortunately, he "has a lot of options" to consider.

Mahoney "loves to travel," and may decide to "do volunteer work, either here in Canada or abroad," or choose to gain some work experience, "hopefully in some field that bridges the gap between physics, what I've done to this point, and medicine."