Since her playing career ended after graduating from the University of Ottawa in 1994, all Fabienne Blizzard knows is coaching.

She hopped right behind the bench after a hall of fame career with the Gee-Gees, eventually becoming the program's head coach in 1998. Now, Blizzard will be back in the lead role after being announced earlier this week as the head coach for Team Canada's FIBA U16 Women's Americas Championship, which will take place June 12-18, 2023.

After serving as an assistant coach with various women’s age-group teams for Canada Basketball, Blizzard will make her National Team head coaching debut this summer.

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We caught up with Fabienne earlier this month to discuss the opportunity, what lies ahead for Canada Basketball, her journey in rising the coaching ranks and more.

You’ve been an assistant coach with Canada Basketball in previous years. What’s it like knowing you’re going to be a head coach of a National Team this summer?

“It’s exciting. I’m looking forward to it. I've learned from a lot of people before me. I've been very fortunate to be at camp for a long time and to have been picking everyone's brain and learning from different coaches different systems. I'm a basketball junkie, so anytime I have a chance to attend anything basketball related, and to be around like minded people — I get excited about that.

So, for me, to be able to do this at this level with everyone, with everything I've kind of gathered from everyone — I love the opportunity to be able to make all the young women in Canada excited about playing basketball. I think that’s the biggest thing for me. I want to get them as excited as I am about it. I think that's where we need to be with this younger generation of athletes and have them understand how amazing it is to represent your country on the front of your jersey and your family on the back of your jersey.”

You’ve been a part of Canada Basketball since 2018 and obviously a part of the country's basketball scene a lot longer. What’s it been like for you to witness this continued growth of women’s basketball?

“To me, it says a lot about Canada and what we're doing. The fact that Canada Basketball has been very big on working with all the coaches around the nation — I think that's huge.  That means a lot of us are starting to develop the young women in a similar fashion where they all have a dream to play at the next level, so for us it’s about understanding what we should be focusing on. The fact that you have somewhere where you can actually share knowledge, and get on the same page as everyone else and provide opportunities for these young ladies — I think that's the big thing.”

How would you describe a Fabienne Blizzard team? What do you want to see from your group this summer?

“The way I see it — a very disruptive team. It’s a team that is really not going to allow you to do the things that you want to do and it’s a group that’s recognized as one of the best defensive teams. Teams are going to have to do something different when you play us, because our goal is to make you uncomfortable.”

You starred with the Ottawa Gee-Gees as a player and were named a three-time OUA All-Star. When did coaching really come onto your radar as something you wanted to do once your playing days came to an end?

“I started playing basketball late and going to CEGEP gave me those extra years, so that allowed me to just really hone into my skills and grow the passion I had for it, because I just fell in love with the sport. That was the thing that got me the most — how much I still wanted to be in it. Even when I was still in university, my coach (Wanda Pilon) would say ‘Take a break.’ I was in the gym shooting all the time. As soon as I had a chance — if there was a break in between classes or a break in the summer, I would take it and I would constantly be in the gym getting better.

As soon as I graduated, my coach asked me to take a break. But I said no. I wanted to be an apprentice coach right away and I didn’t want to step away. I wanted to be the developmental coach and I’d do film breakdown — back then we were using VHS — so it was a lot harder. I was willing to just go in, and put in the work. 

It was always about ‘How can I make someone fall in love with it as much as I fell in love with?’ I wanted people to be as passionate as I was and I wanted to stay in it. So that’s kind of what happened. I wanted to jump in. But she also forced me to go back into the community and said ‘Okay, this is too easy, because there are a lot of university players coming with great foundations. I want you to go start with the community where some of these kids are just going to play house league and you’re going to have to figure out how they learn.’ When I did that I hated my life for a good first year. I was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is so hard to get a 12-year-old to do things and to get to their level.  I realized if I wanted them to love it, I’d have to change the style — a university player versus a 12-year-old is totally different. 

It really made me appreciate how I communicate in basketball and how I translate what I want to give them and create an atmosphere where they want to come back. 

It’s like retention — I’d ask ‘How can I make them come back to my practice again.’ I wanted them to come back the following week without having to play ‘bump’ or ‘H-O-R-S-E.’ Those were the things that made me enjoy the challenge of it and I think that’s what kept me. Everything was about a challenge. I’d say ‘This is going to be challenging because… now how do I figure it out?’ I think that’s why my full-time job was in project management and change management — that’s what I had to do. I’d have to constantly try and make things better in my day-to-day job. Then when I got to basketball, it was the same thing. I think I just get really excited about challenges every time.”

You mentioned Wanda Pilon as someone who gave you advice at the beginning of your coaching journey. Is she one of the coaches that, as you reflect on your career, has really influenced you?

“Yeah. I’d always had male coaches. She was literally the first female coach I ever had. And it was different. It was very different. The tone of everything was different. It was a different way to learn. I had male coaches all the time.

My first big influence was my high school coach. The only way I could play basketball and the only way my parents would allow it — because I lived so far from the school — is if I got a ride back. Because of him, I played. I don’t think I would’ve played basketball — my high school coach was the first one. He was a big basketball lover.

Then I had Wanda in university was the last drop and I was like ‘Okay, I want to keep doing this.’”

What do you enjoy the most about coaching? ‍

"The people. The challenge that we have in coaching is always people. So that means you have to take the time to know who they are. Some of the things I always want to understand is their identity. Who are they? And also understand what’s behind them — the family piece, the culture piece. Canada is so diverse. You’re getting people from everywhere. Some people it’s yes, they’re Canadian — but their background. How are things at home? What are things that are enforced? What are things that you may need help with? You have to develop trust. I love challenges. But the challenge is always going to be people. If you don’t take the time to get to know the people, who they are and who the supporting systems that you could also be fighting against to a certain extent. Because when you’re trying to coach players, you also have to quiet the noise behind them so they can buy in fully to what you are, 

You get to work with so many interesting people and when you take the time to get to know them, there’s so much that you can do. That’s when, I call it ‘magic,’ magic happens. Magic happens when you take the time. It’s like when you bake."‍

What’s one piece of advice you’d have for a younger coach?‍

“You need to go back to learn more about yourself. Get more insight about your style. You need to go back to that younger age group, because you have to gain experience. Gaining experience is coaching at different age groups and also coaching boys and girls. That to me, was probably the best advice I ever got and I think got me to be the coach that I am today. I always feel that I’m still growing. As soon as a coach thinks they’ve arrived, they have not arrived. It’s like Michael Jordan coming back. Every time, every season he said he learned something. You’re constantly learning, and you’re constantly learning from the athletes that you coach. 

You have to go back to the beginning. It’s too easy to start coaching and go coach at the university level like I was doing, without going back to the grassroots. That’s when you get a little bit more insight into your style and start developing your own voice because you’re still the voice of the coach that coached you. When you start developing your own style, you start getting an understanding of the different types of people and learning styles around you to basically continue to grow — sometimes we try to take shortcuts, but there’s so much more that we have to learn.”