When the Senior Men’s National Team take to the court against the Dominican Republic on Saturday evening, Kenny Chery’s personal cheering section will be rooting him on from their living room in Montreal, Quebec.

“It means everything,” Chery said. “Not only because it’s a blessing, because it is, but it’s an opportunity to wear the Canada jersey and play on TV in front of your country and your family. They don’t always get to see our games in Russia, they don’t get to see our games in Spain, but now they get to see us represent them on a big stage.”

The 30-year-old point guard will represent Canada in the second window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after a phenomenal outing in the first window, leading the team in scoring with a 26-point, seven-assist performance and then following that up with a 16-point, seven-assist effort in two blowout victories for Canada.

This time around, Chery traveled from Russia to Amsterdam to New York before finally reuniting with his Team Canada teammates for this weekend’s slate of games in the Dominican Republic. The travel day was intense with a late flight, then a missed connection, then a few more hours waiting around at the airport, but Chery said he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

“It's fun for me,” Chery said. “I know we're all in different countries and different leagues, and for us to get together for a week and be able to talk about how your season is going, whatever you have going on, it's fun to be together. It’s good to look back at when we played together in the past. For me, it is just unbelievable. It's a great experience, something I really, really enjoy.”

Though much of Chery’s year is spent overseas, his heart is always in Quebec with his family. Getting to watch the growth of the game in the province, even from afar, has meant so much to him.

“Everyone that comes from there takes a lot of pride [in it], as much as we can,” he said. “We haven’t gotten much attention in past years, but I think people are realizing a lot of kids are going to big colleges and universities and are doing well. Guys are in the NBA right now, too. Lu [Dort], Chris [Boucher], Khem [Birch]. They’re doing a great job representing as well. We’re showing the next guy coming that it is possible, you know?”

Chery has spent this season playing in Russia with BC Avtodor Saratov, following seasons in Italy, France, Spain and Hungary. Though he’s spent the past seven years playing professionally overseas, the Montreal native says his time at Baylor University made the biggest impact on his career because it came as a result of having to work his way up to Division I basketball after beginning his college career at State Fair Community College in Missouri.

“Coming out of high school, I wasn't really highly recruited,” he said. “I had to go to junior college and I didn't know what to expect [there] and I look back, and I'm like junior college is probably the best thing to happen to me, to be honest.”

Chery credits his time at State Fair with helping him to grow up. Being on his own to learn how to manage his schedule, juggling his class schedule with individual workouts at 6 A.M. and team practices every day allowed Chery to find a maturity that he said was necessary to thrive at the next level. When Baylor came calling, Chery was ready.

“That's when I really realized, ‘OK, if you put yourself fully into something and you put your time into it, it is going to pay off, no matter if you don’t see how [right now],’” he said.

Though becoming a pro basketball player became Chery’s goal in high school, the sport wasn’t his first love growing up.

“I liked soccer more than basketball at the time,” he said. “I was the short guy so, you know, soccer was my thing. But watching my brother and seeing how much fun he was having and then being able to compete with other kids in the neighbourhood, I wanted to do it too. Day by day, I started playing and playing and playing, and started falling in love with it too.”

By high school, Chery was all in on the sport and made the difficult decision to leave home at 17 to finish his high school career at Archbishop Carroll in Washington, D.C.. Along the way, Chery says he would reach out to various athletes on Instagram, asking for information on their workouts, trying in every way that he could to gain more information into how to make the jump to the next level.

Those carefully crafted messages went unanswered and that feeling has stuck with Chery until today. Whatever his practice or travel schedule, Chery makes the time in his day – and sometimes his night – to respond to the young players who reach out to him on the social media app.

“It's a pleasure for me to really put some time into those responses,” Chery said. “I always take the time during night, during the day, during the week to make sure that those messages are responded to. I give advice or whatever the case may be. ‘How do you work on your ball-handling?’ Certain kids, they are just starting to play basketball and want to play Division I Basketball one day. ‘How did you do it?’ I don't mind writing three or four paragraphs for 20 minutes, as long as I'm able to help them get something out of it.”

In every conversation, whether it is with teammates, family and friends, or a stranger reaching out over social media, Chery wants to connect and ensure that whoever he is speaking with leaves the conversation feeling encouraged. He says he wants to be known as a reliable and trustworthy person and that being open-minded is important to him. His exuberance for the sport and passion for connecting with people makes him a natural ambassador for the game.

Helping to make the path easier for those coming after him has always been a priority for Chery. As is representing Canada whenever the opportunity arises.

“For me, that means everything,” he said. “When you get the call, it means even more to know that I came to mind to be asked to come and represent Canada out of all of the Canadian players that are out there. I got that call. That’s amazing. I’m truly grateful and really thankful for this opportunity and will make the most out of it for sure.”