Let’s start with a brief description of your background and the steps in your career you’ve taken leading up to this point?
I graduated from Acadia university, with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. On top of that I have a bachelor of education from Lakehead university. Experience in the business world would be almost ten years in the pharmaceutical industry and jobs, anywhere from a sales rep, to marketing, to field training. I also worked in a couple of different industries in sales, one being the construction industry, the fast food industry. I worked in the teaching sector for about seven to eight years, including a stint with the SPAD program. During that time I guess you’d call it I worked as a professional coach in the Ontario hockey league. Then I took a step back from the OHL and started this venture. I was given the opportunity to help build the Northern Hockey Academy from the ground up, as the general manager.
Throughout every step of your career, I think you’ve found yourself in a group setting, and almost always in a mentorship position. Has that always been something you looked for in a career?
I would say, it’s always been a passion of mine, even as a player in that group setting it’s something that I was magnetized to. I love being a part of groups, and I love helping others. It works itself into the rest of my life, as far as teaching and helping. Helping develop. Or helping to mentor, I guess, would be the best word. Whether it be in the classroom, on the ice, or, even in a position like a general manager. You have to see the day-to-day operations, but you’re also trying to mentor your staff and I think that’s one thing that Craig the other manager here, and myself, that’s one thing we take a lot of pride in. You’re not just managing people. You’re mentoring people. In the pharmaceutical industry, I was working within a team at all times. I think there’s some synergies between all the things I have done. It is a passion of mine. There’s no question about it. Whether it be coaching, whether it be teaching. Whether it be mentoring some of our staff here. It’s something that I really enjoy doing and there’s probably nothing more satisfying than seeing one of the people that you’ve helped mentor, have success. Seeing them whether it be getting the job that they want, pursuing the dreams they have on the ice, or, you know, just graduating quite honestly. Seeing young people succeed is something I take a lot of pride in.
So I think a big takeaway from that is you’re a very team-oriented guy. Coming from a sports background, did that kind of lead you into wanting to work in a team environment or the sports industry at some point?
I think for sure, from a young age whether it’d be on the ice or in the field or whatever it is. It for sure is something that I always wanted to pursue. I have a hard time not being around people. I enjoy the camaraderie in a group setting. I enjoy the, whether it be the debates or discussions. I knew from a young age, I wanted to work with people and, I’ve been fortunate enough to do so thus far. Whether it be in the classroom, on the ice, or in a business setting, I’ve been fortunate to be surrounded by very good people along the way and that’s something I knew I wanted to do for me.
That’s great. Because the sports industry is a very tough industry to break into, you’ve pursued so many different avenues, however, you’ve always kept that door open and now you’ve kind of dove head first into the sports industry, with being General Manager at NHA (Northern Hockey Academy) as well as being the Head Coach of the Greater Sudbury Cubs. What advice would you have for someone who is trying to break into this industry?
The most important thing is networking, especially in the sports industry. Even when I work with students in SPAD I try to emphasize to them as much as possible how important it is. The most important thing they can do throughout their education is network and do it the correct way. I guess, I put it in these terms to simplify it, nepotism in the world does exist. It’s a big part of the way the world works. You can either use it to your advantage and network and see what kind of doors open with it. Or you can disagree with it and get crushed by it. It’s not all about who you know, you have to be a good person first and foremost. However, the greater your network is, the greater the opportunity.
On the topic of networking, after playing hockey for Acadia, you then went overseas. Played there for a little while and I’m sure made plenty of connections. Did any of those connections made through playing hockey ever help you throughout your career?
Quite honestly, with everything I’ve ever done as far as job opportunities to this point, someone from my time playing/coaching professionally has helped me get there. Whether they knew me personally or knew someone that I had played with/for. It could be something as small as that, it starts a conversation and allows you to get face-to-face with somebody. As far as my time overseas, I still talk to a few guys, but if I look back at my time playing for Acadia, I was going to school a thousand miles away from home and those connections were not only extremely important to that adjustment period in my life but I still use that network to this day to try and help some of the young people that come play for me. It doesn’t matter where I’ve met the person, if you nurture your network, it’s not just about creating a network more so nurturing that network even simply by reaching out and saying hi. It doesn’t matter where I’ve played or where I’ve gone, I continue to reach out to those people. I try to help them when they need it and they help me when I ask, twenty-five years later.
That’s perfect. Now that we’ve gone over what has gotten you to this point, I’d like to talk a bit more about your current situation. Could you give some insight as to what a typical day looks like for Darryl Moxam?
It isn’t a typical day. It’s all over the place. Starting a business from the ground up. Quite honestly with no template to guide us. With that being said I’d usually arrive at the academy at six o’clock in the morning, usually get out of there by four o’clock in the afternoon to go take care of business with the Cubs, and then depending on whether there’s anything that needs to be done I may end up being back here for a couple hours at night. For instance, something like tonight, one of my instructors is sick and I could have to run those lessons if I can’t find a replacement in time. Really though I think this is the coolest part because no day is the same. I think I would struggle with a very monotonous job and I did the same thing every day for the same amount of time. The hours can be very long here but it’s very satisfying. There are a lot of differences as far as, day-to-day, every day is different. You’re tackling things every day and that’s part of the excitement about the job. You never know what tomorrow may bring.
So I think you kind of touched on it there but what do you think are your biggest challenges here day to day then?
People. Yeah. People, there’s no question. Whether we’re talking about staff or we’re talking about customers, everybody’s unique. I don’t mean that in a way to say that it always causes challenges. There are several things you look at the world today going through COVID and all of these other problems in the economy. It’s just the people aspect of business. It’s working with your staff and continuing to help develop them to reach their goals. Then it’s working with customers and trying to satisfy all of their different needs. I mean, everybody has different needs or wants, and working with the public can be difficult at times, but it is also one of the most satisfying things you can find. I worked with a young lady yesterday that I hadn’t seen in two months but now I notice the strides she’s made and that puts a smile on my face. So, I mean, there’s positives. There are negatives. But that would be the biggest challenge I find, is working with people. I like to describe it as a challenge, but also a blessing. Because it’s why you do it. That’s why I do it. If you go back to the start, I mean, I do this to help people. With that comes the most satisfying part of the job, but it is probably the most time-consuming and challenging. Coming up with ways to meet people’s needs, whether it be, like I said, your customers or your staff.
I’m sure that’s why it feels so rewarding for you too, it is a very large challenge trying to work with people. But to see them and everybody around you succeed. Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from.
And I think one of the biggest changes. You know, if you look at when I started in pharmaceuticals roughly twenty years ago, since then, the world has changed. The need for immediate information has become the most important thing. People need answers right now. When I started in sales, I started with pagers. Now you have a cell phone that people can text on. Just probably the time management and the quick response to customers and different things, that’s what causes some of the challenges. That’s probably one of the toughest challenges, getting information promptly because the convenience of responses to staff and customers is so much more important than it ever was because the demand is so much higher now.
In that video Darryl offers more information about his coaching philosophy.
I don’t know if this would be a challenge or more of a progression question but this is a long one so I’ll break it down into a few parts here. Firstly, this is something different, from what you guys are doing here at NHA, correct? The city of Sudbury hasn’t seen something like this before. So what I’m wondering is, what exactly are you guys trying to accomplish here? And what kind of reactions did you get initially from the general public? Then since then how have people adjusted to what you guys are here?
Just what we are trying to be here, goes back to a vision I had as part of a project in university. Having been a young man growing up playing a high level of a sport in northern Ontario, it is a lot more difficult trying to find resources, whether it was educational or on ice at the time. I just thought there was a need in Northern Ontario for families to have that one-stop shop. They knew they could trust. That’s kind of the vision we had here. So when you say that we’re a little bit different than anything we’ve ever had. We’re not even close to where we want to get to. Some of those pieces are in the works and coming to fruition right now. Whether it be some of the mentorship with coaches or families or whatever it may be. The response from the public, as far as the day we opened our doors, we knew there was going to be an influx of people wanting to be here. A lot of that had to do with COVID. People had been locked up. They were looking for a place where they could participate in several different activities. Take our Christmas camp for example; customers were kind of blown away by the fact that when their son or daughter walked out of there after five days, they played 11 different sports. That’s unique itself, you get an opportunity to come somewhere and participate in a day camp or a week camp, and by the end of it, you’ve played everything from golf and hockey to pickleball, volleyball, and basketball. The response from the community has been great. The number one thing we as managers and the ownership with Blake and Brian demand is kind of that family culture. I think that’s one thing we’ll never, ever, ever waiver from. The fact that when, when young girls or boys come in here, they. You know, the parents or the guardians can feel like they can trust the people they’re leaving their child with. The fact is you’re not going to like every sport, but we’ve tried to introduce them to so many different things and introduced them to that team/family-type atmosphere at the end of the day. We have many customers that keep coming back, and that’s obviously a great thing, but now we also consider them part of what I like to describe as our family here.
That’s great. I think it again goes back to the same sort of mentality you’ve taken with you into all your professions so far. I think it’s pretty safe to assume you believe in the value of developing that family-type bond.
I think that’s something that I was just raised on. I believe you can accomplish way more as a tight-knit family than as an individual and that’s just one of the many reasons why I want people to come here not only do we provide resources, and a facility for them to have some fun, but I want them to come here because they want to see the people that take care of them.
I think sports have always done that for people, they offer an escape from day-to-day problems and they can connect you with people who can usually relate in some way. I believe that SPAD also offers a similar relationship amongst the students/faculty, I’m just curious as to what you think of this from a faculty perspective.
Take an old student of mine for example, Roberto Bagnato was a student of mine in SPAD because of how he acted in the classroom and conducted himself as a true professional and a young man, being the Sudbury Wolves at the time got him on as an intern there, and he worked with me for a long time and now we’re close friends. Jake Burton is another great example of a young man who knew how to network within the sport, these guys weren’t still playing the sport when we brought them on with the Wolves but they knew how to network within the sport now Jake is doing great for himself working with the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the end of the day it’s all about being a good person and learning from your mistakes, of course, if I could go back there are things I would do over but I’ve learned from them, and that’s another thing I think having a team surrounding you offers is an insight into when you may be hurting others around you as well as yourself. You can’t replace family as far as what you’re born into, but you definitely can have more than one family and I think they’re equally as important at different times in your life and that’s kind of that mentality that I try to carry with me through my work.
Having a history in the SPAD faculty I was wondering if you had any advice for students trying to make a name for themselves?
It’s not only networking, you’ve got to have something or do something that allows you to stand out from the crowd. It doesn’t have to be your personality. It could be just the fact that you’re willing to take on anything. If I go back to Roberto he wasn’t the boisterous, funny class clown or the charismatic guy, now don’t get me wrong he can be, but he didn’t go out of his way to show it. He just had an ability that you could put him up to a task and even if he had no idea what he was doing, he would figure it out. He did little things that allowed him to stand out. There’s more competition than ever today, especially in the sports business industry so it all boils down to being indispensable. You need to show your network what makes you different from everyone else. In a world where everyone’s networks are the same, you need to nurture your network better than the person, you’ve got to keep in touch and it is as simple as asking someone how their weekend went.
Now that we’ve touched on your past, and the present. What does the ideal future look like for NHA?
What I would love to see is to continue to pursue the vision of being a one-stop shop for athletes in Northern Ontario, and what I mean by that is a place where they can tap into multiple resources including, on-ice training, on-court training, strength and conditioning, even family mentorship. We want to be a place where any athlete can pick up the phone and call, and no matter what they may need, we can offer our resources and guidance to them. I also want to be a place that doesn’t just give up on someone when they’re done playing their sport, if we started training an athlete at twelve years old, why would we stop helping them when they’re done playing, if we possess the resources and network to help them obtain a job, even just questions about their education. They know they have a second family they can lean on through all walks of life. That is my vision for NHA and I think as a collective we’ve done a great job so far, but we’re just getting started!
SPAD Players Tribune 
Great interview with Darryl…well done Nolan…good questions in a structured manner…also great advice from Darryl…its all about the networking…when I was in business I got 90% of my work because of networking…I enjoyed this article…
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