CSIO Rio 2016 Games Tracker: Basketball

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) would like to congratulate the 12 athletes nominated to the Canadian Women’s Olympic Basketball Team for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Six of the 12 athletes named to the Olympic Team are from Ontario:

Natalie Achonwa, Guelph, ON

Miranda Ayim, London, ON

Miah-Marie Langlois, Windsor, ON

Kia Nurse, Hamilton, ON

Tamara Tatham, Brampton, ON

Shona Thorburn, Hamilton, ON

Steve Baur, Assistant Coach for the 2016 Rio Olympics is currently enrolled in the Advanced Coaching Diploma (ACD) program. The ACD program, delivered by CSIO, is a two-year course focused on Coaching Leadership, Coaching Effectiveness, Performance Planning, and Training/Competition Readiness.

As well, CSIO’s Sport Nutritionist, Melissa Kazan has provided members of the National Team with nutrition services during the quadrennial. CSIO has also played an instrumental role in facilitating the planning and delivery of other Sport Science disciplines throughout the Rio quad. This includes strength and conditioning, testing, and athlete monitoring.

CSIO is also proud to work closely with Ontario Basketball, offering funding and support to athletes, coaches and technical leaders through the OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) program. OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) is a program designed by CSIO and funded by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS), to provide sport science and sport medicine services to athletes who are best capable of achieving future international success on senior national teams in targeted winter and summer sports. The OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) investment also contributes to funding athlete participation in training camps, international events, coach and technical leadership support and enhancing sports’ daily training environments.

CSIO has provided ongoing assistance to basketball through coaching and technical leadership support of Agnes Borg, Female Technical Lead for the Targeted Athlete Strategy-Ontario Program. Through the OHPSI (NEXTGEN Ontario) program basketball has received enhanced sport science and sport medicine services for targeted athletes including Sport Nutrition, Physiotherapy, and Strength and Conditioning services.

QUOTES:

"CSIO has been an important partner of Canada Basketball over the past quadrennial providing valuable leadership, guidance and expertise in the sport science area for our senior and age-group women’s national team. Working in conjunction with our coaches and technical leadership, their contribution has elevated the sport science area of our senior program to much higher levels than ever and readiness for Rio. This has also provided gold medal standards and practices for alignment by the rest of our feeder system including our women’s high performance programs both nationally and provincially.

Very importantly CSIO is a major partner in the development of our NextGen athletes with support through the OHPSI program and our age-group national teams in the areas of strength and conditioning, therapy, medical, and nutrition, as well as support for our technical lead. This has been instrumental in the progress seen in our age-group national team athletes and preparing them for the rigors of senior national teams."

Denise Dignard

Director, Women’s High Performance, Canada Basketball

"Ontario Basketball's partnership with CSIO and involvement in OHPSI has facilitated close collaboration and alignment with Canada Basketball for the women's high performance program. Additionally, OHPSI funding has provided our athletes and coaches with access to sport science experts and technical leadership, which has helped us develop world class athletes at younger ages. As a result, not only are there consistently high numbers of Ontario athletes on our senior women's and age-group national teams, but the quality of our athletes' performances are on par with the top nations at international competitions. We are excited for the bright future of our national team and we look forward to continuing to work with CSIO to achieve gold medal performances."

Lindsay Walsh

Director, Basketball Development, Ontario Basketball

"These are very exciting times for the Canadian Women’s Basketball Team. Coming off a very impressive 2015 season where they won Pan Am Gold, the Senior Team is poised for a breakthrough result in Rio. It has been a pleasure for CSIO to be partnered with the National Program and the relationship with Ontario Basketball is incredibly strong. There is tremendous depth in the player ranks within Ontario and Canada and the future looks bright for not just Rio, but quadrennials to come!"

Tommy Wharton

Director, High Performance Sport, CSIO

"CSIO wishes to congratulate the athletes named to Canadian Women’s Basketball Team for the 2016 Olympic Games. We are very proud of our partnership with Ontario Basketball; Canada Basketball; the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport; Sport Canada; and Own the Podium and supporting the next generation of basketball players who will represent Canada on the international stage, and at future Olympic Games."

Debbie Low

Chief Executive Officer, CSIO

About Canadian Sport Institute Ontario

Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (CSIO) is a non-profit organization committed to the pursuit of excellence by providing world-class programs, services, and leadership to high performance athletes and coaches to enhance their ability to achieve international podium performances. CSIO offers athletes a range of sport science and sport medicine services including nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, strength & conditioning, mental performance, sport therapy and life services. CSIO also delivers programming and services to National and Provincial Sport Organizations and coaches to work towards building a stronger sport system in Ontario and Canada.

CSIO services approximately 700 high performance athletes and 250 coaches, at its main facility at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, its satellite location at the Mattamy National Cycling Centre in Milton, and in daily training environments across Ontario. CSIO is part of a larger network of 4 institutes and 3 multi-sport centres across the country known as the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Sport Institute Network, working in partnership with the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee. CSIO is further supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Sport Canada, Own the Podium, and the Coaching Association of Canada, along with the National and Provincial Sport Organizations within the sector. www.csiontario.ca

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