Senior Nick Robertson is a small forward for La Salle’s varsity boys basketball team, and has been playing the sport for as long as he can remember. Coming from a long line of basketball players, the sport was in his blood; he knew from a very young age that developing a love for the sport was going to be inevitable. 

“On my dad’s side of the family, pretty much everyone played in college,” Robertson said. “It was something I always wanted to do.”

Robertson was drawn to La Salle by the combination of strong academics and a solid basketball program, and he saw opportunities to flourish in both environments. “It was just a good fit,” he said. 

Now, after being on the varsity team all four years of high school, Robertson has played an instrumental role in his team’s success both on and off the court. 

This year, he was nominated as a team captain. Remembering the impact that the captains during his freshman and sophomore year had on the team, he was enthusiastic about stepping into the role. 

“I felt like I had to carry the torch and step up and be a leader,” he said. 

Luckily, Robertson wasn’t on his own; he had many people along the way who he was able to draw inspiration from, one being his older brother, a fellow basketball player who graduated from La Salle in 2017. 

Aside from being a team captain, Robertson has had many other big accomplishments this season, despite sustaining an ankle injury early on. “It kind of derailed me at the beginning of the year, but I found ways to kind of work around it,” he said. 

Recently, he was nominated by league coaches as the Northwest Oregon Conference Player of the Year for the second year in a row. 

This year, Robertson attributes that award in part to his growth since junior year, specifically the ways in which his area of focus within his sport has shifted. 

“Junior year I wanted to score 20 [points] a game. But this year, I feel like I’m more focused on winning a championship and more focused on the team aspect of it,” he said. 

Robertson’s favorite part about the La Salle basketball program is his teammates, with whom he has grown very close with over the years. In addition to winning a 5A league title together, Robertson has been able to share many experiences with his teammates off the court. “I feel like my teammates are a lot of my closest friends,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun playing with them.”

Looking ahead, Robertson is hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps and play basketball in college — preferably Division II — but he has a wide range of options to continue his basketball career.

“I think D2 would be a good fit. But if not, I’d like to go to an NAIA school or a JuCo school,” Robertson said. 

The NAIA, or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, is similar to the NCAA and comparable to Division II; it supports smaller schools and offers more financial aid. JuCo, which is officially known as the National Junior College Athletic Association, provides athletes with a starting place to pursue their athletic careers at bigger four-year colleges.

For anyone involved in high school sports, Robertson’s advice is to live in the moment and get maximum enjoyment out of those years.

“Work hard, dedicate yourself to it, and just enjoy the experience because it’s super fun,” he said. “High school sports… they only come for a small amount of time, so just cherish it.”