that national
team veteran Rowan Barrett has joined the organization as the Director
of Youth
Development. Barrett, a 17-year veteran with
Team Canada,
is committed to the development of young male athletes, sharing his
expertise
and experiences to further educate the next generation of Canadian
players. It is important to Barrett to
give back to the sport that has provided him so much over the years.
"There is no one better than Rowan Barrett who
understands the values that Canada Basketball is trying to pursue and
share all
the time,” stated Maurizio Gherardini, Managing Director of the Senior
Men’s
National Team. “As we are committed to
the growth of the game throughout the country and we needed to establish
some
sort of a ‘link’ with the young athletes, their families, their coaches
and
their communities and develop better ways to support them and let Canada
Basketball
become a ‘point of reference’ in their lives. Rowan will be there for
them and we believe
it's a step forward in the right direction.”
Having been a product of Canada Basketball’s national elite
pathway, Rowan has lived through many experiences first-hand. The
Toronto
native was a high school basketball standout at West Hill Collegiate and
earned
a scholarship to St. John’s
University
(1992-1996). His successful college
career afforded Barrett the opportunity to play professionally overseas
for 11
years in Spain, Italy, Greece and France.
During his entire career Barrett was always committed to his home and
native land and always valued the opportunity to come home and compete
with
Team Canada.
Barrett’s experience with the national team program,
combined with his incredible talent, helped to elevate him to the world
stage. Moreover, his years with Team Canada hold a
very special place in his heart. “Playing
for Canada was always an exhilarating experience,” said Barrett.
“Listening to the national anthem while
donning the red and white always filled my teammates and I with an
enormous
sense of pride, honour and responsibility.”
A former captain of Canada, Barrett represented the nation
on the junior team (U19), the development team (U21) and senior team
from
1991-2008. The 6’5” guard is part of an
elite group of athletes in Canada’s
‘century club’, having played more than 115 games for the red and
white. During his career, Barrett helped lead Canada
to a silver medal in 1993 at the World University Games and participated
in the
FIBA World Championship in 1998 and 2002.
Perhaps his greatest shining moment was as a starter on the 2000
Canadian Men’s Olympic team that finished in seventh place in Sydney,
Australia.
Today, the former Eurobasket guard of the year (2004), Barrett
is leveraging his passion and love for the game to inspire the next
generation
of young Canadian men. As the new
Director of Youth Player Development, Barrett will provide support to
key
national team prospects, fostering relationships with athletes and their
surrounding communities to provide the best possible environment for
these
young talents to flourish. Barrett will
provide leadership at the grassroots level, at the ‘Train-to-Train’ and
‘Train-to-Compete’ stages of Canada Basketball’s athlete development
model
(ages 11-18). Focusing on Long Term
Athlete Development (LTAD) principles such as physical, mental,
cognitive and
emotional development, and calendar planning for competition, he will
provide
tangible resources for mentoring in academics, nutrition, and sports
science to
help young men maximize their growth as players and people both on and
off the
court.
“Canada’s elite
athletes need to know that our country is taking an active role in their
development,” added Barrett. “We have a
tremendous opportunity to groom our youth for long-term success. We
will work to build a bridge from Canada
Basketball into our grassroots basketball communities, in order to
leverage all
of our basketball knowledge and abilities with a holistic year-round
approach
to development. As we build a sustainable
model for youth development domestically, success will eventually follow
from
the age group level teams all the way up to our senior level at the
highest
levels of international basketball.”