U17 Team Will Compete In FIBA World Championships
TORONTO, ON (June 4, 2016) – Canada Basketball’s women’s high performance program is pleased to announce the 18 athletes who have been invited to the June 6th-8th U17 tryout by invitation. The group will compete for a chance to represent Canada on at the 2016 U17 FIBA World Championships.
“We’re excited to get this group together,” said Jodi Gram, head coach. “It will be a competitive camp, building on our 2015 gold medal performance and preparing to take on the world.”
Gram (Bill Crothers S.S.) takes the helm in her first year as head coach of the squad after working with the team for 5 years as an assistant and apprentice coach. She will be joined by assistants Dani Sinclair (University of Victoria), Albena Branzova-Dimitrova (UQAM) and performance analyst Michele Hynes (University of Manitoba).
Following the tryout, the group will participate in a 5-day training camp from June 9th-14th at the University of Toronto – Mississauga. The final 12-woman roster will head to Spain for an exhibition tournament en route to competing in the U17 FIBA World Championships in Zaragoza from June 22nd-July 3rd.
In 2015, the U16 national team won the U16 FIBA Americas Championship, capturing Canada’s first gold medal at a FIBA Americas tournament. Canada is currently ranked 4th worldwide in the FIBA youth girls rankings.
A full list of invited athletes and coaches can be found below. For media requests, please contact bwilliams@basketball.ca
2016 U17 NATIONAL TEAM INVITEES
| NAME | POSITION | HEIGHT | HOMETOWN |
| Laeticia Amihere | Forward | 6’1” | Mississauga, ON |
| Niyah Becker | Forward | 5’9” | Winnipeg, MB |
| Hailey Brown | Forward | 6’1” | Hamilton, ON |
| Macaela Crone | Forward | 6’1” | Moose Jaw, SK |
| Sarah Donovan | Forward | 5’9” | London, ON |
| Louise Forsyth | Guard | 6’0” | Langley, BC |
| Raizel Guinto | Guard | 5’4” | Winnipeg, MB |
| Hanna Hall | Guard | 5’2” | Hamilton, ON |
| Taya Hanson | Guard | 5’7” | Kelowna, BC |
| Alyssa Jerome | Forward | 6’1” | Toronto, ON |
| Roxane Makolo | Guard | 5’7” | St-Hubert, QC |
| Kate Moran | Center | 6’2” | Waterloo, ON |
| Christina Morra | Post | 6’3” | Mississauga, ON |
| Shaina Pellington | Guard | 5’6” | Pickering, ON |
| Aiden Rainford | Forward | 5’10” | Toronto, ON |
| Kyla Shand | Center | 6’2” | Saskatoon, SK |
| Sage Stobbart | Center | 6’1” | Vancouver, BC |
| Keishana Washington | Guard | 5’6” | Pickering, ON |
2016 COACHING & STAFF
| NAME | HOMETOWN | AFFILIATION | ROLE |
| Jodi Gram | Markham, ON | Bill Crothers S.S. | Head Coach |
| Dani Sinclair | Victoria, BC | University of Victoria | Assistant Coach |
| Albena Branzova-Dimitrova | Montreal, QC | UQAM | Assistant Coach |
| Michele Hynes | Winnipeg, MB | University of Manitoba | Performance Analyst/Apprentice Coach |
| Michelle Bell | Brampton, ON | Ryerson University | Athletic Therapist |
| Megan Pinske | Coquitlam, ON | University of Saskatchewan | Team Manager/Apprentice Coach |
| Marcus Jansen | Toronto, ON | N/A | Physician |
| Nate McKibbon | Calgary, AB | Mount Royal University | Training camp Coach |
| Agnes Borg | Toronto, ON | Canada Basketball & Ontario Basketball | Head of Delegation |
2016 SCHEDULE
| DATE | ITEM | LOCATION |
| June 6th -8th , 2016 | Tryouts | UofT – Mississauga |
| June 9th -14th, 2016 | Training Camp | UofT – Mississauga |
| June 16th-19th | Exhibition Tournament | Spain |
| June 22nd, 2016 | Vs. Nigeria | U17 World Championships Zaragoza, Spain |
| June 23rd, 2016 | Vs. Latvia | |
| June 25th, 2016 | Vs. Japan | |
| June 28th, 2016 | Round of 16 | |
| June 30th, 2016 | Quarter Finals | |
| July 1st, 2016 | Semi-Finals | |
| July 2nd, 2016 | Classification Games | |
| July 3rd, 2016 | Finals |
Courtesy Canada Basketball
Drew Ebanks
