Achonwa driving force for Team Canada in Rio
TORONTO — Natalie Achonwa didn’t have much time to transition from her job as a professional hoopster in the U.S. to her starring role on Canada’s Olympic-bound basketball team. She had just a short plane ride, to be precise.
On Thursday, the Guelph-bornand-raised forward suited up for her professional team, the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.
On Friday, after a quick flight from New York to Toronto, she was back in a Team Canada jersey, reconnecting with teammates on a hard court inside the former Maple Leaf Gardens.
Achonwa, a key part of the women’s team hoping for a medal at the Rio Olympics, says switching back and forth between her two basketball identities is becoming automatic.
“The best part about being introduced to Canada Basketball at such a young age is it’s ingrained in me now,” she said. “I used that airplane ride from New York to Canada to kind of relax, debrief and flip over to Team Canada.”
Achonwa is one of seven returning Olympians on the Rio team. The others are Miranda Ayim, Kim Gaucher, Lizanne Murphy, Michelle Plouffe, Shona Thorburn and Tamara Tatham. Olympic rookies Nirra Fields, Miah-Marie Langlois, Kia Nurse (of Hamilton), Katherine Plouffe and Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe round out the 12-woman roster.
Achonwa says she’s a more mature, smarter and more experienced player than she was four years ago, when she was a 19-year-old competing in her first Olympics.
The Canadian women, once an afterthought in international basketball, are riding high expectations and momentum into Rio after winning gold at last year’s Pan Am Games and the FIBA Americas Women’s Championship. Despite a tough draw that includes powerhouse U.S. and Spanish teams, the women come to Brazil with a new-found confidence and grit.
“We will get on the floor, we will do the dirty things, we will scrap,” Achonwa said. “The tenacity of our team is what we believe Canada is. We never quit and we never give up.”
After one season in the WNBA, Achonwa has played with or against all of the women on the American Olympic team, and says there’s no intimidation factor matching up with the world’s No. 1-ranked country.
“We put in the work, and we’re here to battle for Canada. We’re not really looking at it like: ‘Oh my gosh, there’s the U.S.’ We’re looking at it like you’re a competitor, you’re in our way, so we’re going to fight you no matter what,” she said.
Achonwa, in her second season with the Indiana Fever, was a first-round pick out of Notre Dame. Signing her so early was something of a calculated risk for the Fever, considering she finished her college career with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and missed her first year with the Fever.
But the Fever liked what they saw from the six-foot-three forward, who averaged almost 15 points a game for the Irish in her final season. She finished her college season third in games played (145), fourth in rebounds (970), 12th in points (1546), and fifth in double-doubles (28).
After sitting out the entire 2014 season as she rehabbed from injury, Achonwa established herself as a solid reserve player in her rookie season for Indiana, starting in 17 games.
She’s proud of her professional career, but there’s nothing quite like playing for your country. Achonwa has been part of Canada’s senior national team since she was 16 years old — the youngest player ever picked for the Canadian squad.
“You still get chills. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve played in, or how many Olympics you’ve been to, this passion is something deep,” she said, after a news conference announcing the Olympic team in Toronto Friday.
“Canada Basketball, it’s a different vibe. It’s a different emotion, and I’m just really glad to be back here and part of this group.”
Achonwa started playing hoops in Grade 6, at the suggestion of her soccer coach. She played a year at Centennial Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Guelph, before moving to Hamilton to play in an elite program for Canada Basketball at St. Mary’s Catholic Secondary School.
The big forward’s performance caught the attention of Notre Dame, who signed her as their first international player on their women’s basketball team.
Head coach Lisa Thomaidis says Achonwa is a natural leader on the court, who anchors the centre position whenever she’s in the game. With only two weeks before the Olympics begin, the coach knows there isn’t much time to get her back up to speed. Thomaidis isn’t worried. “She’s such a competitor, she’s such a physical presence, and she’s a great leader. She brings her best, and we’re really excited to have her,” she said. “She’s been here since Day 1, and we have no doubt she’ll be up to speed pretty quickly.”