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By: Holly MacKenzie

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TORONTO, Ont. (May 14, 2020) – When most of us think about life 10 weeks ago, we think about work days, running errands such as going to the grocery store or post office, perhaps meeting with friends to catch a basketball game.  When Kia Nurse thinks of 10 weeks ago, it feels like 10 months ago, mostly because 10 weeks ago she was hitting the game winning three-pointer that gave the Canberra Capitals their second consecutive NBL Championship.

“It feels like it was a very, very long time ago,” Nurse said of her championship-winning shot. “The days are going very slow [since returning to Canada].”

While everyone can relate to the current weirdness of a sudden shut down and to staying inside much more than usual, the change has been especially dramatic for athletes like Nurse, who have spent the past year operating at a nonstop pace.

Immediately after finishing her WNBA season with the New York Liberty, Nurse spent some time with the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team this past summer and then went to Australia to play for the Canberra Capitals in the NBL. She flew back to Edmonton, the home of the Senior Women’s National Team, in November for the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.  Then she travelled to Belgium in February for a FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament as she helped Team Canada qualify for the now postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.  From there, Nurse returned back to Australia where she capped off her second season with Canberra with a second NBL Championship and became the first import to win the NBL MVP.  

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After winning the championship, Nurse returned to Canada where she is staying with her parents during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as she adjusts to going from breakneck speed to, well, something quite different.

“There’s not a whole lot of anything [going on right now,]” Nurse said. “Just chilling, doing workouts, reading. It has its moments of oddness. It's telling me right now that I just need to go buy a house wherever I can find one, by myself. I’m not usually used to being home this long and it's kind of like moving back in with my parents because I don't have a house here. It’s been weird because I have nothing to do in terms of my regular routine which was like get up, go to the gym, come back, go to the gym, go to practice later. Now it’s like get up, go work out outside and then you have the rest of the day.”

Though her routine has shifted a lot since returning home, she’s still finding things to keep her busy. In addition to keeping up with her daily workouts at home, Nurse is fielding plenty of media requests for interviews, as well as continuing her work with TSN as an analyst and expert. “I still feel like I’m busy, I’ve had to do a ton of interviews, Instagram Live stuff, TSN stuff a few times a week. It’s been a long process of me doing nothing in the house, but still having things to do.”

With some time and space from hitting her game-winner with the Capitals, Nurse has also had a chance to reflect on that moment, as well as her past two seasons in Australia with the team.

“It was a really, really awesome experience being in Australia the last two years,” she said. “Obviously, especially this year with the adversity we faced as a team, to be able to win a championship, and the way that we did, and to go about the season the way that we did, I think that was super special to be a part of an awesome team. We had awesome leaders. That was probably a big reason why we were as successful as we were.

“I’m so appreciative of the people who took a chance on me in Australia, with my coaches, and my teammates who have become lifelong friends. That experience overall has just been so great for me.”

Like her time in Australia, the memory of her championship-clinching three-pointer only gets better with time.

Nurse’s three came after she’d gotten bumped to the ground, but managed to save the possession by passing to teammate Olivia Epoupa from the ground. When the ball made its way back to her, open behind the three-point line, she was ready to let it fly.

“I get pretty pumped up every time I hit a three,” Nurse said of the broken play that led to her three-pointer. “I was just walking around waiting for them to do something, you can see from the video clip, I look like I’m very disoriented. I realized how open I was and I was like, ‘Well, this one is going up, this is the most open I’ve been all game and we only have a couple of seconds on the shot clock so we might as well put it up there.’ Thank God it went down.

“When I hit it I just let out a scream very loudly,” she continued. “I was pumped because the crowd was pumped up and I remember thinking you might have to play defence right now so start running backwards. Don't be that person that gets caught up in the celebration. Thank God they called timeout. I think running over to the bench it started to sink in.”

Though her passion is always going to be on the court, craving moments like that, Nurse is also enjoying her time serving as analyst for TSN.

“I have fun with it,” Nurse said. “I enjoy it and I have fun with the people I work with. I think I’ve understood a different side of it as well, doing March Madness with TSN now. I feel like I get it, I understand both sides of it, both angles of it.”

Nurse knows that she is a role model for the young female basketball players who grow up watching her. She takes this responsibility very seriously.. "I'm a firm believer that you can't be something that you can't see," she said.  A moment during last season’s March Madness tournament when she was working as an analyst for TSN showed her that she’s leaving a lasting impression even when she isn’t on the court herself.

“I think it’s funny because I was at a gym working out last year in the middle of March Madness, during the week,” she said. “I walked by a group of young boys, they turned around and they were like, ‘Hey that’s the March Madness lady.’ I was like, ‘Okay, they don't know my name, but they see me on TV.’ That was kind of a step forward for me. I was like, ‘Okay, they’re thinking March Madness, men’s basketball and they’re associating it with a woman who is on television speaking about it. I think that’s a good step forward. I think it just allows a different viewpoint.”

While Nurse wants to continue to inspire young women with hoop dreams, she also wants young people to know there’s more than one way to have a career in basketball.

“For the broadcast side, from young women, if you play sports and you learn something from it, you can bring that to a different aspect of life and be really, really good at it,” she said. “I think I’ve been able to help that with the TSN broadcast stuff.”

Whether it's hitting a championship-clinching three-pointer, helping Team Canada to an Olympics berth, breaking down the latest hoops action on television or serving as interviewer on her Instagram Live series, Nurse is carving out a path that’s all her own. As more and more eyes begin to follow the many aspects of her career, she hopes for the women’s game to get the attention it has long deserved.

"For the next generation of young basketball players coming up, their ability to say that their favourite player is a female player, someone from the WNBA or from college, that is telling you that we’re doing the right thing in terms of showing people who they can be and what they can grow up to be,” she said.

For those reading who still haven’t caught up to the (No. 4th ranked) Canadian Senior Women’s National Team, tuned in to a New York Liberty game or who still needs to familiarize themselves with Nurse’s game, all you really need to know is this explainer from Nurse herself:

“I don't dunk but I know how to put the ball in the hoop. Same thing.”

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