A week away from her first Olympic Games, things are starting to get real for Kacie Bosch.

“We got our accreditation yesterday, and I think that's when it really actually hit me,” Bosch said on Sunday. “It's such a big thing to comprehend. The Olympics are just the epitome of sport.”

Bosch spent the weekend in Toronto with her 3x3 teammates for the team's final days of training camp before heading to Paris to get the Olympics experience underway.

“When I was handed my accreditation and I saw my badge, I was like, ’Oh my goodness, this is actually happening.' It's really exciting and it's overwhelming, in the best possible sense. I'm just so excited to be able to do it with the girls.”

From the moment that Bosch first took the court alongside Paige Crozon, Katherine Plouffe and Michelle Plouffe, she was hooked. After competing in 3x3 for the first time by representing Canada at the 2021 FIBA 3x3 Women’s AmeriCup, Bosch immediately became the missing piece for Team Canada.

“Ever since then, I've just been attached to them and it's been the best time,” Bosch said. “The best time ever.”

The 27-year-old Lethbridge, Alberta native has helped Team Canada win back-to-back FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series titles in 2022 and 2023, as well as a silver medal at the 2022 FIBA 3x3 Women’s World Cup. This year she helped Canada qualify for the country’s first 3x3 appearance at an Olympic games.

The team qualified for Paris at the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Hungary this past May.

“We knew we were going to do it and to be able to celebrate [on court with my teammates], I am one of the most emotional people in the entire world so I didn't stop crying for like 15 minutes,” Bosch said. “It was just overwhelming because you work so hard to get to a moment like that.”

Bosch feels especially proud to be representing Canada alongside women who have become so much more than just her teammates. With intense and quick travel schedules for series stops all over the world, part of 3x3 basketball means spending a lot of time with teammates off the court. That extra bonding time has only strengthened Team Canada’s performance.

“Our team is so good because we genuinely care and respect each other,” Bosch said. “I just want people to know that. We’re good because of our chemistry, on and off the court. Our four is so great because everybody plays their role. We’re like an amoeba, just moving together. “

Bosch’s family and friends will be making the trip to Paris to cheer her on in person. Like fellow Canadian Olympian Bridget Carleton, Bosch fondly recalls Olympic summers and winters being devoted to the games. When the time zones made watching live a challenge, or on days when the schedule was particularly stacked, Bosch made sure to record every broadcast that she could get her hands on and the family would catch up on everything in prime time.

“I was like the biggest Olympics fanatic,” Bosch said. “I would watch every single event, know all of the background stories on the athletes. Now that I’m going, all of my friends are so excited for me because they know how much I love it.”

Beyond the support from her loved ones, Bosch has felt the love from all over Lethbridge, as well as Edmonton, where the team played and won their last FIBA 3x3 Women’s Series Stop before heading to Paris. From being flooded with messages from children at local schools, to send-off events for all of the athletes who will be representing Lethbridge in Paris, to a surprise party organized by family and friends, Bosch’s support system has shown up, and out, for Bosch and the rest of Canada’s 3x3 squad.

“Lethbridge is such a special place as far as athletics go,” Bosch said. “So many amazing athletes have come out of southern Alberta and so many of my friends are my former teammates from high school teams, club teams. Obviously my family, the people that have been my emotional, financial and mental support, throughout my entire life, to have their support has been really cool because I am where I am because they’re the ones who have pushed me along the way.”

As for what she is most excited to experience in Paris, the answer, of course, is the competition. Despite often being the shortest player on the court, no one plays bigger or tougher than Bosch, who will sacrifice body for basketball every time, and she's had the bumps, bruises and bloody forehead to prove it.

“I am so excited to play against the best teams,” Bosch said. “I’m so excited that the teams that qualified are the teams that qualified because there’s not going to be any easy games. In order to be the best, you have to beat the best.

“I know that we are able to do hard things,” she continued. “We’ve been through the ringer in April and May [dealing with injuries and absences]. I’m excited to see how we do because I’ve got nothing but good feelings about it.”

Playing on the biggest stage in sports means bringing fresh eyes to a sport that has given Bosch a playing career beyond her 5-on-5 career in college. Growing the game is always something on the forefront of Bosch’s mind.

“To be a part of the first team with the pioneers of the women’s game in Canada, [in Crozon and the Plouffe sisters], it means so, so much to me to be part of that. To be that first step for other people to lean on and build from here, and for the sport to get bigger and bigger and bigger, I feel like we’re laying a great foundation for the future.”

Each time that Bosch puts on her red and white Team Canada jersey in Paris, she will be reminded of the many friends, family and coaches who have lent a helping hand along the way.

“My wearing the jersey is just an amalgamation of all of their efforts,” she said. “I’m the one wearing the Canada jersey, but all of their names should be on the back, too.”