I apologize as I had intended on keeping up with posts regularly throughout our cadet team "off season" however, there was not a lot to update on. We are often well intentioned, but the grinds of the season we become immersed in often take over and it is difficult to get out of the present moment. Our coaching staff is very much getting back in cadet team mode now!
My season with our team at UPEI has concluded and now it is time to prepare for our upcoming selection and ID camp to be held March 22-26. We are very excited to have lots of talented players coming into camp in March, and expect a very competitive camp. It is exciting to have so many young players aspiring to compete for their country.
A couple of weeks ago we received our draw for the World Championships to be held in Holland, which began to make things very real. The Championships will be a 12 team tournament, and we have been placed in a group with: Italy, USA, Belgium, Mali, and South Korea. We will play these 5 teams in this order, then from there it will depend on our results through the first round robin. On the other side of the draw is: Brazil, Australia, Japan, Turkey, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Our plan for preparing for the championships is still in progress beyond our upcoming March camp, but we are hopeful that we will have some exhibition play in Europe prior to competing in the Netherlands. Due to the vastness of our country, as always it will be near impossible for our group to train together regularly before August so we will have our coaches monitoring athletes to some extent throughout the spring and summer to attempt to maximize their preparation for the championships.
I am meeting with Canada Basketball this week to further articulate our plan for the next 6 months with hopes of reaching new heights with our Canadian team at the U17 World Championships.
