Canada Basketballs Senior Women’s National Team invite 24 athletes to Phase 1 of its 2016 training camp, which is currently ongoing at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton.

Half were members of last year’s FIBA Americas championship squad that qualified for the 2016 Rio Games.

The other dozen have yet to compete in a FIBA event at the highest level. Some, in fact, are attending a SWNT camp for the first time.

Today, they’re the new kids on the block.

But in a few years, this will be their team.

“Each year we do a pretty good job of bringing in some young up-and-comers because they're our future,” SWNT head coach Lisa Thomaidis says. “We’re not going to be able to ride the wave of these veterans for an eternity and the reality is we always have to be preparing for the future.

“So to give them a taste of what it's all about and to show them the level of intensity and calibre that's played at this level is always a good eye-opener for them and great for their development.”

Class was in session for first-timer Bridget Carleton, who said she’d already learned so much after just a few practices with the likes of Kim Gaucher, Lizanne Murphy and Shona Thorburn.

“They’re just great people and obviously great basketball players, so whenever I have a question on the court I’ll go over to Kim or Lizanne or Shona and they’re right there to help me,” says Carleton, a 19-year-old guard.

“Even if I don’t ask, they’ll come over and help me if I look confused, so they’ve been great.”

What happens on the hardwood is only a part of a larger culture that has fostered this team’s success, and the SWNT veterans are equally as helpful outside the gym as they are in it.

“It’s scary coming in when you’re a younger player and you think maybe that there’s going to be a little bit of divide, but they do a really good job making you feel welcome, taking you under their wing and showing you the ropes and just the vibe around camp,” says centre Emily Potter, a 20-year-old who is also at her first SWNT camp. “It’s really a cool experience, and I haven’t felt that on any other team.”

The SWNT has gone from missing the Olympics in 2004 and 2008, to an inspiring quarterfinals appearance at the 2012 London Games to having medal aspirations in 2016. It’s a remarkable evolution that coach Allison McNeill led until her retirement four years ago, and has since continued under the stewardship of Thomaidis.

Thorburn, 33, would like to see the next generation possess the same dedication, hard work and passion that has defined her era.

“We wanted to be better,” says the guard who made her SWNT debut in 2002. “Allison instilled that in us.  We had to do these things or we weren’t ever going to become better, and people bought into that.

“Obviously you have to have that internally as well. People aren’t always going to be there pushing you so you have to have that internal drive, but i think Allison was a big part of instilling that in us, and i think the younger generation see it. They see how hard we’ve worked.”

“They want this so bad,” is how Quinn Dornstauder describes the vets’ approach. A 20-year-old centre who made her SWNT camp debut last year, Dornstauder recognizes the magnitude of carrying on their legacy when that time comes.

“I’m extremely proud that I can be here playing with some of these players that I’ve been following for I don’t even know how long,” Dornstauder says.

“To be here playing with them is a huge honour and also a huge responsibility.”

by Brian Swane

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