Nirra Fields is a point guard who has been with Canada Basketball for four years. Currently, she is playing for the UCLA Bruins. Get to know the up-and-coming guard with this week's feature.

Canada Basketball (CB): You’ve been with Canada Basketball since 2009. What is your favourite moment while representing your country?

Nirra Fields (NF): My favourite moment while playing for Canada was beating the U.S in the U19 Fiba Americas tournament.

CB: You’ve moved all across North America. What’s the best city you’ve lived in?

NF: The best city I lived in and currently live in is Los Angeles.

CB: What are your goals for basketball, both on a collegiate level and for international competition?

NF: My goal as a collegiate athlete is to win a national championship and my goal for international competition is to win a gold medal.

CB: What players did you look up to growing up? Have you crafted your game after anyone?

NF: Growing up I looked up to players like Cappie Pondexter and Candace Parker, and I didn’t craft my game after anyone I really just tried to improve every year on my weaknesses.

CB: When you aren’t playing basketball, how do you fill your time?

NF: I like to read a lot of books, so when I’m not playing basketball I like to relax and read or watch a movie.

CB: Giving back to the community is important to you, and you’re active with charitable work. We’ve seen kids even message you on Twitter after an event and say that you’ve changed their self-perception. How long have you been giving back and why does it play such a major role in your life?

NF: I’ve been doing charity work since my freshman year at UCLA my coach Cori Close taught us a lot about being life time givers, so ever since I’ve been attending UCLA I had a lot of opportunities to give back to the community. It’s become so important in my life to give back because I wouldn’t be were I’m at today without the help of so many important people, so I just want to give other kids the same opportunities that I was given.

CB: What advice do you give the kids who aspire to play basketball at an elite level?

NF: The advice I give to kids who want to play at an elite level is in order to become an elite basketball player they must have an elite work ethic, to trust the process and persist through adversity.

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