January 11th, 2017Coaches and Trainers Named for 2017 Basketball BC U15 and U17 Girls Provincial Team Programs

January 10, 2017 - Basketball BC Manager of High Performance Shaun McGuinness, is excited to announce the Head Coaches, Trainer and Analyst for the 2017 U15 and U17 Girls’ Provincial teams. “I am very pleased that our U15 and U17 Provincial teams will be led by two Nationally recognized university coaches. Carrie Watts and Leanne Evans are dynamic coaches that have a proven record of coaching excellence at the provincial, university and national level.”

These teams will have extensive training and competition schedule including attending various Showcase tournaments in Canada and the US. Both teams will culminate their season attending Canada Basketball sanctioned National Championships.

The U15 team will be competing this summer at the Midget (U15) National Championships in Regina from July 23 to 30.

The U17 team will be part of Team BC at the Canada Summer Games that will take place July 27 – Aug 3 in Winnipeg. The Canada Games are this country’s largest multi-sport event for young athletes and in 2017 will celebrate their 50th anniversary and Canada’s 150th birthday.

Carrie Watts (nee Watson) played for UBC from 1999 to 2004 and was known as an all-all around force that was a tenacious defender and clutch scorer. In her fifth and final year she captained the Thunderbirds to a national title. In that final year she was named a Canada West All-Star, CIS All-Canadian, CIS and Canada West Defensive Player of the Year, as well as the CIS National Championship MVP. She also won the Marilyn Pomfret Award as UBC's most outstanding female athlete and the UBC TAC (Thunderbird Athletic Council) Leadership Award.

Following her time at UBC she joined the Canadian Senior Women's National Team (2005-07) and competed at the 2006 World Championships and the 2007 Pan-American Games.
Coach Watts previous coaching experiences includes four years as head coach of the Basketball BC U15 provincial team, which she led to back to back bronze medals at the juvenile National Championship in 2010 and 2011

“I'm looking forward to another great summer with the Basketball BC Provincial Team program. Getting to take part in a large multi-sport event like the Canada Games is a rare and exciting opportunity for an athlete. There is a lot of talent in the U-17 age group and we are excited to put together a team to compete for a gold medal in Winnipeg.”

Leanne Evans competed for the UBC Thunderbirds from 2005-09 winning a CIS national championship in both 2006 and 2008. In 2009 she was named the CIS Defensive Player of the Year and was actively involved with the Canadian women's national team program from 2004-2011. Evans represented Canada at the junior, young women’s and senior women's level. She played professionally overseas for the Townsville Fire in Australia and Stockholm 08 in Sweden.

Evans joined the Vikes coaching staff in 2012 bringing a wealth of playing experience combined with coaching done throughout her playing career. She is the current head coach of the girls RTC Victoria program and is involved with the provincial team programs and other community basketball programs such as the Vikes Basketball Academy and She Got Game. Coach Evans previous coaching experiences includes two years as Asst. coach of the Basketball BC U16 provincial team, and most recently served as the 2016 Asst. Coach of Basketball BC U17 team.

I am really looking forward to the summer and am excited to be working with the U15 girls. Working with the best girls in the province at the U15 age level will be a great opportunity to help them to improve their fundamental skills and improve understanding and execution of team concepts in preparation to compete for a National Championships in Regina at the end of July. I can’t wait to get started.”

Cheryl Jean Paul and Chris Spencer are returning to the Provincial Team Staff as Program Analyst and Program Trainer.

Coach Jean-Paul brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our provincial program as she has been involved in High Performance training both at the Provincial and National team level for the last several years. Most recently she attended Canada Basketball National Assessment Camp as an on-court Program Analyst and Player evaluator. Cheryl is currently the Head Coach of Trinity Western University Spartans women’s basketball team.

Chris Spencer returns as Provincial Team Program Trainer. Chris is the Strength and Conditioning Specialist at Level 10. Chris is also currently the Head Trainer in the Basketball BC High Performance Program and works extensively training our POD athletes.

Chris recently was invited to be a part of Canada Basketball National Assessment Camp staff as an on-court trainer working with activation and recovery of athletes.

PROVINCIAL TEAM TRYOUTS

U16/U17 Team Tryouts (Supercamp)

Date March 24-26
Location: Fortius Sport and Health Centre in Burnaby BC.

Registration Open January 16, 2017

For more information click here

U15 Team Tryouts (Supercamp)

The U15 Supercamp is by invitation only (from participation in a U15 Regional ID Camp)
Date: April 14-16, 2017

Location: Trinity Western University

For more information click here

For more information about the Basketball BC High Performance Program please contact

Shaun McGuinness
High Performance Director

smcguinness@baketball.bc.ca
778-621-2005