A Langley coach is off to Mexico next week to demonstrate her talents and expertise on a global level.
Trinity Western women’s basketball coach Cheryl Jean-Paul is heading to the FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship 2021 to serve as Canada’s head coach.
The FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship 2021 is scheduled for Aug. 23 through 29, and will be held in León, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Fans in Canada can catch all the action streaming live on FIBA YouTube.
“After a year and a half of Zoom meetings and virtual camps, it’s been an exciting week of training and getting to know each other on and off court,” Jean-Paul said.
“This group has proven to be quite resilient with how they’ve had to adapt to not having the normal pathway to this tournament, so we are very thankful to be heading to Mexico and very excited to represent Canada at the FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship,” she shared.
Now entering her second major tournament with the U16 National team, Jean-Paul will be looking to lead the team to another successful campaign, having guided Canada to a silver medal at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship 2019.
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“We have been working hard to focus on our opportunities rather than the restrictions, understanding our safety and the health of our team is a priority, so we are very grateful for the hard work Canada Basketball and all of its staff have put into making this a great camp experience.”
Jean-Paul has been involved with Team Canada since 2015, serving in various positions with Cadette and Junior National teams throughout her international coaching career.
The eight participating teams in the FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship 2021 have been divided into two groups (A and B) of four teams each. Each team will play against all other teams in its own group (a total of 3 games for each team).
Canada is in group A and will face Brazil (Monday, Aug. 23, 3:30 PM ET), Costa Rica (Tuesday, Aug. 24, 12:30 PM ET), and Puerto Rico (Wednesday, Aug. 25, 12:30 PM ET).
All eight teams will advance to the quarter-finals with the four winners moving on to the semifinals.
The top four teams from the FIBA U16 Americas Women’s Championship 2021 will qualify for the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup 2022.
Canada has medalled in every edition of the bi-annual event dating back to the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women, while their highest finish was a historic gold medal at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women.
This will be Canada’s seventh appearance at the event.
Canada is currently ranked fourth worldwide in the FIBA world ranking.
Following the tournament, Jean-Paul will return to Langley to coach the Spartans women’s basketball team in its return to Canada West competition. After the 2020-21 season was cancelled due to COVID-19, the Spartans return to conference action on Oct. 28 against UBC.
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