When Kia Nurse was rising up in Hamilton, the closest skilled basketball that she may see in particular person was the Toronto Raptors. Though celebrity Vince Carter was her favorite participant, she could not see herself in him.
She’s hoping to alter that feeling for younger Canadian women.
Nurse will lead the Los Angeles Sparks towards the Seattle Storm at Edmonton’s Rogers Place in a WNBA exhibition recreation on Might 4. She stated on Tuesday that the pre-season occasion is an actual alternative to encourage the following era of Canadian expertise.
“It may not be me they resonate with, there’s 20 different individuals within the health club that do what I do and so they may resonate with one in all them and that is nonetheless rising the sport, proper?” stated Nurse from her dwelling in Los Angeles. “That is when you could have the chance as a younger child to say ‘that is my new favorite participant.’
The exhibition in Edmonton would be the second WNBA Canada Sport after a sold-out crowd at Toronto’s Scotiabank Enviornment noticed the Chicago Sky defeat the Minnesota Lynx 82-74 on Might 13.
Nurse stated she was desperate to have a direct impression on younger followers by means of the upcoming recreation.
“If any individual follows in my footsteps and make it to skilled sports activities, nice. If they do not and so they play in school, nice. If they do not and so they play simply in highschool, nice,” stated Nurse. “All of the issues that I’ve discovered about basketball are the identical issues that they will be taught, irrespective of no matter degree they get to.
“I am grateful to have the chance to introduce some newbies to our sport and have them decide up a ball.”
Nurse was traded from Seattle to the Sparks on Jan. 31, however she stated there is no unwell will towards her former Storm teammates.
“No matter crew I am taking part in on is a chance to play within the WNBA,” stated Nurse. “There’s solely 144 of these alternatives so I’ll take each a type of and be thankful for it.”
Edmonton a ladies’s hoops hotbed
Her sister Tamika Nurse, who performed NCAA basketball in the USA earlier than transferring into broadcasting, stated that having the exhibition in Edmonton could possibly be much more impactful than final yr’s WNBA pre-season recreation in southern Ontario.
“I believe Edmonton doesn’t typically get to see quite a lot of ladies’s basketball the place Toronto has the posh of that,” she stated, noting that Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont., led the UConn Huskies previous Toronto Metropolitan College 111-34 on Dec. 20. “I believe Edmonton itself is definitely a really massive ladies’s basketball hotbed and I believe they crave the power to see and be within the stands.”
The WNBA Canada Sport in Edmonton was initially scheduled for Sunday, Might 5, however needed to be shifted a day earlier in case the Oilers’ playoff collection once more the Los Angeles Kings went to seven video games. Kia Nurse stated she was truly completely happy to have the change.
“Saturdays are extra enjoyable than Sundays, for my part,” Kia, the youngest of the Nurse siblings, stated with amusing. “What I am actually enthusiastic about is we now have truly missed one another within the final couple of years as a result of he’ll be in playoff collection and I will at all times find yourself in a coaching camp.
“Now my dad and mom are coming right here [to L.A.] and so I assume we will all get dinner collectively after which he’ll play his video games and we’ll go watch them and, then come again to Edmonton so I get a full further week with my household.”