TORONTO, Ont. (June 8, 2022) — Canada Basketball announced Wednesday that Senior Women’s National Team assistant coach, Carly Clarke, will coach Canada’s U23 women’s national team this summer at the inaugural GLOBL JAM FIVES competition.

“To have the chance to lead this outstanding group of athletes on our home court and compete in front of friends and family is a truly special experience,” said Clarke.  “Having had the opportunity to work with many of these players across our age-group levels, and to follow their basketball journeys in the years since, the coaching staff is looking forward to getting our group together in the gym over the next few weeks.” 

“GLOBL JAM is truly an exciting, new event and while it’s always an honour to be able to work with the national team, to have the ability to do it in Canada is something I’m sure myself and the players will never forget.”

Set to take place in Toronto from July 5-10,GLOBL JAM will shine the international spotlight on the game’s rising stars and feature women’s and men’s teams from around the world competing in an Under-23 tournament live at Mattamy Athletic Centre and broadcast nationally on Sportsnet.

Session passes (2 games) are on sale now via Ticketmaster.  Additional ticket information, along with schedule and volunteer opportunities can be found at globljam.ca.

GLOBL JAM offers a unique development opportunity for targeted players within the Senior Women’s National Team program as they also have their sights on the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 later this year and further ahead to the Paris 2024 and LA 2028 Olympic Games.

Clarke joined the Senior Women’s National Team as an assistant coach in 2018, after an extended period of international success as head coach of several age-group teams within the Women’s High Performance program.  Not only did Clarke lead Canada to the program’s first medal at an international FIBA women’s age group event, as her cadette team captured a bronze medal at the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship in Amsterdam but her team also had a historic showing at the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup 2017, defeating Japan in the bronze medal game to capture Canada’s first medal at the tournament.  It will be a homecoming for Clarke, who has been head coach of the Ram’s women’s basketball program since 2012 and just led the team to their first U SPORTS Women’s Basketball National Championship in program history.

The Senior Women’s National Team coaching staff, including program head coach Víctor Lapeña, who wants to develop a clear philosophy and identity for the Canadian teams, and assistant coach, Steve Baur, will also be involved.  In addition, Tamara Tatham will serve as a Guest Coach on Clarke’s staff, while Wumi Agunbiade has joined the staff in an Apprentice Coach role for the U23 women’s national team.

Lapeña, who joined Canada Basketball as Senior Women’s National Team Head Coach on a full-time basis earlier this month, will be working with the U23 team and leading in the technical direction and style of play for the team as the program looks to establish consistency across all levels. In his Senior Women’s National Team coaching debut in February, Lapeña led Canada to a 1-1 record at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2022 Qualifying Tournament to successfully qualify the team for the World Cup, which will take place September 22 to October 1 in Sydney, Australia.  Prior to joining Canada, Lapeña had been a mainstay within the Spanish Basketball Federation, Federación Española de Baloncesto (FEB), where he has captured 14 international FIBA medals during his years with the Senior Women’s National Team, as well as various age-group teams.  He also led Fenerbahçe to the EuroLeague Women 2022 finals and the top ranking of European clubs in 2022. 

Baur was recently named Head Coach for Canada for the upcoming FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2022 and will join the U23 team following the conclusion of that tournament.  Hired in 2014 by Canada Basketball as a Performance Analyst within the Women’s High Performance (WHP) program and as Senior Women’s National Team Assistant Coach.  He previously led Canada as Head Coach of the Development Women’s National Team at the 2017 Pan Am Games and 2018 Commonwealth Games, held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.  Originally from Sackville, Nova Scotia, Baur coached 12 seasons in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS), including six as Head Coach with Acadia University.  During his time at Acadia, he led his teams to three consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Sport Final 8 appearances and was named AUS Coach of the Year in 2014.

Head Coach of the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, Tatham is a two-time Olympian, previously representing Canada at the 2012 (London) and 2016 (Rio) Olympics.  Tatham made history as the first Canadian woman on a coaching staff of a pro men’s league when she joined the Raptors 905 as a mentor coach for the 2018-19 season.  Following her playing career, Tatham became an Apprentice Coach / Team Manager for Canada at the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2018 before joining Cheryl Jean-Paul’s staff as an assistant coach the following year for the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship 2019.  Tatham is currently serving as an assistant coach on Baur’s staff for the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship 2022 and will split time between Clarke’s GLOBL JAM staff and assisting with an upcoming Senior Women’s National Team training camp.  

A former player within the Women’s National Team program, Agunbiade will make her coaching debut with Team Canada this summer with the U23 women’s national team.  Agunbiade represented Canada at both the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Women and 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women.  Prior to becoming an assistant coach at Queen’s University in 2021, she was previously an assistant coach with the Guelph Nighthawks in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), as well as a junior coach with Raptors 905, as part of their Mentee Coaching program.  Actively involved in the basketball community, she founded Hoopers Loop in 2019 to empower female identifying student-athletes to succeed in sport and life.

Recognized by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the GLOBL JAM men’s and women’s tournaments will feature two pools of four teams, respectively, competing in round-robin action July 5-8. Teams that advance to the semifinal round will meet on Saturday, July 9, followed by the Championship games on Sunday, July 10.

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For more information, contact:
Matt Walker, mwalker@basketball.ca