December 20th, 20212022 Girls Provincial Team Head Coaches

Luyken, Schuetze and Tuchscherer Named Head Coaches for 2022 Basketball BC U15 and U17 Girls Provincial Teams and U18 Canada Games Team

Dec. 20, 2021 - Basketball BC Director of Girls High Performance Shaun McGuinness, is excited to announce the Head Coaches for the 2022 U15 and U17 Girls’ Provincial team and U18 Canada Summer Games Team. “I am very pleased to announce that our U15, U17 and U18 Provincial teams will be led by three nationally recognized coaches. They are dynamic coaches that have a proven record of coaching excellence at both the provincial and university level.

Anthony Luyken will head the U15 coaching staff. Anthony has extensive experience as part of Basketball BC High-Performance Coaching team having coached within our provincial team program for several years, as well as serving as Head Coach for our Centre of Performance Program, which is part of Canada Basketball’s Targeted Athlete Strategy. Anthony is returning to guide the U15 provincial team after leading the 2016 and 2017 - U15 and U16 provincial teams. Assisting Anthony will be Aieisha Luyken and Jenn Le – both current CP coaches.

Diane Schuetze will lead our U17 provincial team. Diane is a former All Canadian U-Sport athlete and currently is the lead assistant coach at UVic. Formerly she was an assistant coach at UBCO. Diane is currently in her second-year coaching within our provincial High Performance (TAS-HPT) program. Assisting Diane is Diana Lee, current UBC women’s lead assistant coach and member of 2021 HPT coaching staff.

Al Tuchscherer is returning to coach our u18 Canada Games team having previously coached our U15 provincial team, helping lead them to a silver finish at the 2016 National Championships. Al is a nationally recognized U-Sport head coach and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our program. Al certainly has the skill set, experience, and knowledge to best prepare and develop our provincial players for competing on the national stage at the Canada Summer Games. Assisting Al is Breanne Watson S.F.U. Associate Director of Athletics, and member of Basketball BC HPT coaching staff since 2016.

U18 GIRLS CANADA SUMMER GAMES TEAM

AL TUCHSCHERER

In terms of longevity and national-level success, few university women’s basketball head coaches can match the legacy that Al Tuchscherer has fashioned at the University of the Fraser Valley.

Tuchscherer, a Pitt Meadows, B.C. product, is in his 20th season at the helm of the Cascades. When he began his head coaching tenure in 2002, UFV was a member of the BCCAA (now known as PACWEST), and under Tuchscherer’s tutelage the Cascades were the conference’s dominant program, going 71-1 in the regular season with three conference titles, four trips to the CCAA national championships, and a trio of national medals.

Tuchscherer guided the Cascades through a move up to the Canada West conference of U SPORTS in 2006-07, coaching the squad to a Canada West playoff berth in their very first season and subsequently growing the program into a perennial contender in Canada’s top university league. The Cascades made four straight Canada West Final Four appearances (2011 through 2014), highlighted by back-to-back trips to the Final 8 national championship tournament (2013 and 2014) and a U SPORTS national bronze medal in 2014.

The Cascades women’s basketball program under Tuchscherer has also earned a reputation for developing well-rounded student-athletes with a community-oriented mindset. Over the years, UFV women’s basketball has worked with groups like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Operation Red Nose, and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and two UFV players (Michelle Buhler in 2008, Alexa McCarthy in 2013) have won the U SPORTS Sylvia Sweeney Award for outstanding achievement in basketball, academics, and community involvement.

“I’m honoured to lead the B.C. U18 team this summer,” Tuchscherer said. “I look forward to building, what could be a very talented team, and competing for a gold medal at the Canada Summer Games. Representing your province is always a very special opportunity, and I’m excited to start preparing and putting together a great experience for our athletes and coaching staff.”

2022 U17 GIRLS PROVINCIAL TEAM

DIANE SCHUETZE

Diane was a part of the Basketball BC program as a player with the U16 and the U17 Provincial teams. This will be her first year coaching the U17 Provincial team. Schuetze started her coaching career while she was a student athlete at Thompson Rivers University, with Kamloops Basketball Academy and a U14 North Okanagan Regional team.

As a student athlete, Schuetze had a remarkable playing career at Thompson Rivers University, where she was named to the All-Canadian Rookie team to kick off her career, but she wasn’t done yet. She was also a CIS All Canadian 2^ndteam all-star and a CIS All Canadian 1^st team all-star on back-to-back years. After graduating with a Bachelor in Tourism Management and a Minor in Human Resources, Diane went overseas to play professionally in Australia, Belgium and Germany. Since playing professionally, Diane switched over to the coaching side of the game. Beginning with coaching the Jr. Heat program in Kelowna and assisting the UBCO Heat program for 3 years.

Diane is currently the Lead Assistant Coach at University of Victoria.

“I am super excited to be a part of the U17 coaching staff and looking forward to coaching with Diana Lee. With the recent challenges of not having a high school season and provincial teams competing last year. I am eager to see the growth and development athletes achieved on their own.”

U15 2022 GIRLS PROVINCIAL TEAM

ANTHONY LUYKEN

Anthony Luyken has been coaching since 1983 at all levels of basketball from youth to university. He coached for Basketball Alberta 1984-1988. He eventually moved to the Fraser Valley and began a lengthy coaching career at Mission Secondary 1990- 2010. During that time his team won 5 Fraser valley AA championships and the AA provincial title in 2008.

Anthony has coached for Basketball BC provincial programs from 1991 to present, which includes Centre of Performance, Regional Training Centres and several Provincial teams – most recently winning silver at the 2017 Western Canada Summer games in Edmonton. In 2008 Anthony joined the University of Fraser Valley coaching staff where he served as an Assistant coach from 2008-2016 -winning Canada west 2014 and finishing 3^rd at Nationals.

Anthony is a provincial NCCP Coaching facilitator for L2T and T2Tand has delivered courses throughout the province.

"I am excited to be asked to represent British Columbia this summer while sharing my duties with two excellent young coaches. It is also a blessing to have the opportunity to grow our game with a team of talented athletic players from throughout our province. I know that these athletes have put in the time to be selected to this team, having said that, my desire as a head coach is to use our High-performance platform to develop their skills, to be the best they can be while competing with some of the best kids in Canada. I am so looking forward to our competitive participation at the National tournament in Quebec."