Bound by Basketball: A Posthumus Family Story

Today is Family Day in the province of Ontario. It’s a day meant to give families time to spend with one another, to share in the things they love, and help lift each other up. For Ottawa BlackJacks forward Chad Posthumus and his family, they try – as much as possible – to make sure that’s what every day looks like.

“We’re a very close family,” Chad Posthumus said. “Just the closeness of our family and how we’re always together. Before I head out anywhere through sports, I’m always at home and I always come back home after I’ve gone and played somewhere. We’re always together, we’re always enjoying each other’s company, supporting each other. That’s honestly the biggest thing.”

As one would imagine, a large portion of that time spent together revolves around basketball. The love for the sport stems from the family matriarch, Diana. She picked up the game in high school and excelled enough to earn multiple college scholarships. She opted to stay at home and play for the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, where she would be named to the CIS Championship Tournament All-Star Team. From there she would get invites to the Basketball Canada national team training programs and would even make a final roster before a thumb injury ruled her out of the tournament. Diana decided to call an end to her playing career shortly afterwards, though she would go on to win a national title in the senior women’s championship.

Diana would eventually settle down with her husband Charles and have three children – Chad, Christina, and youngest son Jessie All three would participate in a variety of sports growing up, from basketball to hockey and even gymnastics. The parents especially Charles would have the opportunity to coach their children on the court at an early age.

While Jessie was a particularly good football player, he never took to sports quite like his siblings, who both earned basketball scholarships. Jessie excelled in Air Cadets, becoming a private pilot and a Civilian Officer with the program. Still, with that much athletic talent under one roof, you would assume that their competitive nature would occasionally land the children in hot water. But the Posthumus’ maintain that the family managed to ensure that everything remained civil.

“There was always competition between them,” Diana said. “We spent lots of time as a family just enjoying each other’s company and laughing and reliving some of the things that each of the kids was able to do.

“Christina and Chad both excelled in pretty much every sport that they played, so we were blessed with being able to watch both of them excel athletically. All three children also excelled academically earning accolades for their high marks and volunteerism.”

That being said, there wasn’t always a reason to celebrate in the Posthumus house. When Chad was just 7 years old, he was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes. For a young boy who was already entrenched in sports, the news could have been devasting. But Diana and Charles were determined to make sure that Chad had a normal – if not extra active – childhood growing up.

“I think when you have a child that’s diagnosed with any illness, it’s always difficult,” Diana reflected. “But being diagnosed with type-1 diabetes certainly sent us down a different path.

“He was pretty much into everything… He was a very active young man as a child, and the diabetes was just something that was always there. We certainly had to monitor it, it was always difficult, but right from an early age he learned how to live and play with diabetes, and we learned how to manage diabetes together. We let him go and pushed as hard as he wanted to go, and he loved everything he did.”

That support is something Chad would continue to lean on throughout his career. He credits his parents for providing a lifestyle that prepared him to pursue a professional athletic career. But of course, that isn’t the only time he has turned to his family for backing.

Early in 2016, Chad would suffer what he called a “freak injury” that resulted in a torn hip labrum. However, the injury would go undiagnosed and get progressively worse up until his appearance at the Oklahoma City Thunder training camp in 2017. He would eventually undergo surgery in January 2018, which would then have to be re-done in August. All throughout, the lifelong athlete was forced to the confines of his couch, unable to even participate in shoot arounds at the gym. The unfortunate scenario had him return to the comfort of his family and gave him time to revaluate his love of the game.

“It honestly gave me a completely different perspective of the game,” he said. “Having essentially everything taken away from me and being put on a couch and hanging out, not doing too much, not playing any sports really. Not even in the gym.

“I took a lot of things for granted, and it kind of gave me a different view of the opportunities I had previously and the ones I’ll have in the future, making the most of those. I know I had the opportunity right after the surgeries to come back, but I wasn’t playing the same as I was before. I didn’t feel like I was. You know when you don’t have that ‘it’. You don’t feel that when you’re playing. I didn’t have that.”

Posthumus opted to take some more time off in order to refocus both mentally and physically, which included switching over to a vegetarian diet. He would play in the 2018-2019 season on a minute restriction before joining the Saskatchewan Rattlers and winning the championship in the inaugural CEBL season. Following the title win, he would decide to take another year off to recover. But following that break, Posthumus – who once had “30 or 40-plus universities across Canada and the United States” vying for his services – was left without a team and hard-pressed to find any offers.

But as the old saying goes, he stayed ready to be ready, and opportunity knocked during the 2021 CEBL Playoffs.

“Obviously, we all saw how it went in Ottawa, with me coming out and playing those two games,” Chad said. “I knew I could play; I knew I was still at this level – in fact, at an even higher level than before, because of that new perspective I was given for the game and everything that I didn’t have before and took for granted.”

Diana agreed with her son’s assessment and recalled what it was like watching Chad return to the sport with a rejuvenated mentality. 

“Just watching Chad return to play after he hadn’t played in a couple of years, you could see the drive and the push,” she said. “I think his whole perspective on having a very healthy body and healthy attitude towards the sport… he’s developed a deeper love for the sport than I think he even had before.

“As a family, we’re all very competitive, but you now see a different level in Chad’s competitiveness,” Diana continued. “He’s in peak shape as a top-level performer, but also - from a mental perspective – he has learned to hone the game and understand it. I think he’s playing the game because he loves it, not because it’s a sport and he can make money at it. He missed it those couple of years when he wasn’t playing, and he realized, ‘You know what? I really do love being an athlete. And I love excelling and I love playing.’”

The new-look Chad Posthumus is set to reboot his career this season with the BlackJacks, following a stint representing the Edmonton Stingers in the Basketball Champions League Americas tournament and an invite to the national team program. It’s unknown where his career will take him after that, but he knows he’ll always have the unwavering support of his family by his side.

Because whether it’s helping you pursue a basketball career or simply laughing at the same corny jokes, what matters is being there for each other through the good times and the bad. To enjoy the company of those around you and reciprocate that energy back, whether it’s the household you were born into or the one you’ve built around yourself. That is what’s important.

That is family.