The Senior Women's National Team is coming off a great start to the summer having won the Gold Medal at the Pan Am Games in Toronto. The next step for them is to qualify for the 2016 Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro by winning the FIBA Americas Tournament taking place in Edmonton. Leading up to the Americas Tournament we spoke to our SWNT members and they gave us their thoughts on a few things and here's what they had to say. To buy tickets for the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship for Women, click here.

“The thing that feels weird is that now is when I warm up it takes me 20 minutes and I’m complaining about how cold gyms are and I laugh when I think about when Dianne Norman and Michelle Hendry said it to me when I was 18 years old,” chuckles Mission, BC native Kim Gaucher.  “I said I’m never going to be like that.”

It’s funny how youthful exuberance can came back to bite you later in life.

Heading into the FIBA Americas Tournament in Edmonton, Gaucher has will be getting closer to a career milestone that few players in the National Program ever get to – 200 hundred games played in the Red and White of Canada.  That is somewhere around 4350 minutes.  When you ask her about that number of career caps she wasn’t even aware of it at all and is genuinely surprised by it.

“When I was at home my mom was going through some my old stuff and she pulled out an article about me from 2003 and it talks about me saying I wanted to play in at least four Olympics and four world championships,” recalls Gaucher fondly.  “My younger self dreamed of playing until was 32.  I’m fortunate to have remained relatively healthy and been able to have (this long) of a career with the National Program.”

Having represented Canada since 2001 internationally at age 18, Gaucher had played on the Senior Team for a spell and still hasn’t lost a step having led Canada at the Pan Am Games in rebounding at 5.4 while also averaging 7.4 points in 20 minutes over the five games en route to the Gold Medal.  After having been around to experience the valleys early on in her career she’s now enjoying the successes of late.

The big thing that Kim credits for being able to be around to this point is her mature take on taking care of herself. A self-proclaimed gym rat, she had to make a conscious effort to tone down her workouts.

“If you knew young Kim you’d think she was crazy,” Gaucher says. “I was hard to get out of the gym, sometimes working myself to exhaustion.  I’ve learned to read my body better now.  I still have the same drive and passion that I’ve had when I was younger but I’ve gotten a little smarter.”

And smarter sometimes meant skipping out of a chance to play for pay during the season.  Like the other women on the SWNT, Kim’s summers with the National Program are what she worked for during the season.

“It’s a special thing especially for us older players who have been there for the downs and are now here for the ups,” Kim explains.  “We have always gone overseas with the intention that we were getting ready for Canada.”

If that meant resting her body for the coming summer tour then she’s had no problem shutting down until then.  Gaucher admits that it not it may not be everybody’s choice but it’s one that was never was really something to debate with her.  Her commitment was always to the National Program, first and foremost.

Now that the Senior Women are only days away from possibly beginning their next Olympic journey the sacrifices that Kim have made over the years could help lead the team to a spot in the Rio next summer.  Assuming that she plays next year for a 15th season her 200th game for the SWNT could very well come in the Olympics.

Wouldn’t that put some icing on her career cake?

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Ray is a freelance sports journalist and blogger as well as a passionate Canadian basketball supporter.  His stories have found their way into SLAM Magazine, The Globe and Mail and Hoop Magazine to name a few.  Outside of his freelance work he is currently a senior contributor to NorthpoleHoops.com and SoleShift.  

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