Canada - Introducing Canada’s 2010 junior women’s national team

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Canada Basketball unveiled the official roster for the 2010 edition of the Junior Women’s National Team (JWNT) that will compete in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women taking place June 23-27 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO.

“I am extremely pleased with our final roster as we have selected a very athletic group that can play more than one position as they all possess a multi-faceted skill set,” said JWNT Head Coach Rich Chambers during their week long training camp. “Our expectations are that we continue to improve as a team and hopefully will be playing our best basketball when the tournament begins. It is always difficult to cut down to twelve players as there are many talented players in our country, but our coaching staff feels our team has the skill, drive, and determination to meet our goals."

The FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women features the best players aged 18 years and younger from eight countries in the FIBA Americas zone. Team Canada, assigned to Pool A, along with Chile, Costa Rica and Mexico, will open the preliminary round on June 23 against the Mexican squad.

The top two teams from the preliminary round will advance to the medal round semifinals and play for the top four seeds. Teams that finish third and fourth in each preliminary round group will advance to the consolation semifinals and play for the fifth to eighth spots. The gold and bronze medal games, along with the fifth/sixth place and seventh/eighth place games will take place on June 27. The top four teams overall will qualify for the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women scheduled to be played in Chile.

The 2010 JWNT has three players that are returning from the 2009 team that finished in fourth place in the 2009 U19 FIBA World Championships (Michele Plouffe – Edmonton, Alta.; Melissa Mullins – Burlington, Ont.; Laura Dally – Sarnia, Ont.).

“Last summer we had a chance to see the amazing talent of our age-group teams on the global scale, and I am looking forward to another exciting summer of international competition,” said Wayne Parrish, CEO and Executive Director for Canada Basketball. “The junior national teams achieved great milestones in 2009, as both squads successfully placed top eight in the world, and with a new crop of players this year we look to once again qualify for worlds.”

The Canadian women have qualified for the FIBA U19 World Championships on four previous occasions, the most recent being a silver medal finish in the 2008 event. Canada also finished in second place in the 2006 event, third in 2004 and fourth in 1988.

Attached are the 2010 JWNT official player roster and coaching staff, as well as the training camp and summer schedules.

All training sessions are closed to the public. Media availability is open for the last 15 minutes of practice, with interviews post-practice only.