Canada Basketball announced Thursday the 17 players attending Senior Women’s National Team training camp in Edmonton later this month as the team begins their preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The training camp includes Manitoba athletes Emily Potter and Niyah Becker, both of Winnipeg.
“Next week in Edmonton, we’re excited to continue our work preparing for Paris as we welcome back many familiar faces within our Senior Women’s National Team program as well as some new members to the Canada Basketball family,” said Víctor Lapeña, Head Coach of Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team. “Over several days of training together, we will be focused on improving every day and establishing an environment and team culture critical to our success at the Olympic Games.”
The training camp will run May 20-23 at the Saville Community Sports Centre on the campus of the University of Alberta. The Senior Women’s National Team has called the City of Edmonton home since 2013, regularly hosting training camps, competitions, and community activities.
“We’re looking forward to getting our athletes and staff back together in Edmonton next week as we continue to build towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” said Denise Dignard, General Manager / Executive Vice-President Women's High Performance. “Not only will this phase of training camp be a critical first step towards our short-term goal of the podium this summer in Paris, but it will also be an important developmental opportunity for several identified NextGen athletes to join our Senior Women’s high-performance environment.”
With the WNBA currently in season, Laeticia Amihere, Bridget Carleton, Aaliyah Edwards, and Kia Nurse will join the team this summer ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The Senior Women’s National Team will also hold a pre-Olympic training camp in Victoria, B.C., from June 16-29. The team will face Portugal in an exhibition game on June 26, 2024, at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Tickets for the game go on sale May 24, 2024, at www.selectyourtickets.com. All bowl seats are $27 (plus s/c), and floor seats are $65 (plus s/c).
Canada was drawn into Group B for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and will face hosts France (July 29, 11:15 a.m. ET / 9:15 a.m. MT), Australia (August 1, 7:30 a.m. ET / 5:30 a.m. MT) and Nigeria (August 4, 7:30 a.m. ET / 5:30 a.m. MT).
The 12 teams were divided into three groups (A, B, and C), each playing all other teams in its group (a total of three games for each team). The teams placed first and second in each group, and the two best third-placed teams in the Group Phase will qualify for the Final Phase. The top four teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals, and the winners will advance to the semifinals and medal round.
In February, Canada went 1-2 at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2024 in Sopron, Hungary, to successfully qualify for their eighth appearance in the tournament since women’s basketball debuted at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Paris 2024 will be the fourth consecutive Olympic Games appearance for the women’s team and will be the first time in 24 years that Canada’s women’s and men's basketball teams will compete together in an Olympic Games.
Canada’s Senior Women’s National Team is ranked fifth in the FIBA World Ranking Women, presented by Nike. The rankings were updated following the conclusion of the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.