National basketball
Steve Nash was named the general manager of Canadas senior mens basketball team on Wednesday, bringing with him the confidence of a sports business professional and the well-financed connections to elevate the program to international standards.
As he grinned in a grey suit at a press conference in Toronto, the national womens team was training in the Fraser Valley. Their Olympic aspirations are alive and kicking. In June at a tournament in Ankara, Turkey, they will compete for one of five remaining spots at the 2012 London Summer Games. Ranked 11th in the world, the womens program is on a 10-year upswing thanks in large part to their head coach Allison McNeill, who has been with the team for 11 seasons.
Although Nash is affiliated with the mens program and his name has already reportedly opened the door to $2 million in fundraising, NcNeill expects the two-time NBA MVP will elevate all of Basketball Canada.
I dont know what his role will be. I would hope that he will bring attention to Basketball Canada as he has as an athlete. We hope it will benefit the entire program and if he is conscious in doing that, it will.
If money follows Nash to the mens program, McNeill believes it should be distributed around the national sports organization, and not limited to financing the mens senior team, which was eliminated from Olympic qualifying earlier this year.
Both teams are funded through Sport Canada and the womens team also gets some support from Own the Podium.
When I coached at university, I wanted every program to be successful because that only attracts more excellence, said McNeill. We want both the mens and womens program to be outstanding.
