Nurse coming off excellent WNBA season that too few young girls got to watch

It’s fitting that the camp is at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre, the same building in which the 22-year-old Nurse led Canada to gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games, and then carried the nation’s flag into the closing ceremonies.

The six-foot guard from Hamilton was just 15 when she sat courtside at a Minnesota Lynx game alongside her famous uncle, former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb. She’d love every young Canadian woman to have the same experience.

When her UConn Huskies played last December in Toronto, the game was a sellout. Nurse lingered long on the court to pose for selfies with the young girls in the crowd.

“I think sports is so much more than wins and losses,” she said. “There’s all the life skills (girls) can learn from it. So to be able to show young women that they can do whatever they want, they can get to whatever level they want . . . I didn’t go to a prep school, I played three or four tournaments in the states a year, that’s what I did and I still made it where I am now, I think that’s something that I’m most proud of.”

Could she see the WNBA expanding into Canada, one of the few countries without a women’s pro league?

“It would be huge, for me I would love it,” Nurse said. “If you’ve ever come to a Connecticut game or go to games in Minnesota, those are places where — even New York — you see tons and tons of young women. And for them to be able to have a vision of what it’s like, or a person physically in front of them playing, I think that’s a big thing.”

Indiana Fever forward Natalie Achonwa and Nurse’s New York teammate Kayla Alexander are Canada’s other two WNBA players in camp ahead of the World Cup, Sept. 22-30 in Tenerife, Spain.

The WNBA has been making headines recently, and not only because it’s in the midst of its post-season. Players have been outspoken about the massive discrepancies in both paycheques and TV coverage between their league and the NBA.

Dallas point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, a three-time WNBA all-star, took a shot at ESPN in a recent online diary post, writing: “Yes, LeBron is one of the best athletes in the world, but they’ll go into everything that he ate before they show a highlight of a WNBA game.”

Diggins-Smith also pointed out league salaries cap out around US$115,000, significantly less than the lowest-paid NBA players.

The league’s collective bargaining agreement runs through 2021, although both the WNBA and the union can opt out after the 2019 season. They have until Oct. 31 of this year to exercise that option.

At the closing of Canada’s first practice this week, Achonwa also talked about the discrepancy between the two leagues.

“It’s not just that we want more money, it’s not that we want to compare ourselves to NBA players and what they make, we understand,” said the 25-year-old from Toronto. “We’re the most educated professional sports league, most of the WNBA players are college graduates, we understand that it’s not that we just feel like they should give us more money. NBA (players) get 50 per cent of their revenue, we make less than 25 per cent of it (22 per cent).

“We want a bigger piece of the pie.”

There are other components to it, she added, such as player safety and travel. WNBA players fly economy class.

The majority of WNBA players toil in leagues abroad during the off-season. Nurse recently signed with the University of Canberra Capitals of Australia’s WNBL. Achonwa played the past two off-seasons in South Korea. She sees a silver lining.

“If the WNBA gets to a point where they’re able to pay us so we don’t have to go overseas, then that’s one thing,” she said. “I like the opportunity, to be able to travel and learn another culture and have that experience, play in a different league, different style, I think it makes me a better person and athlete.

“Of course it’s hard on the body and shortens our careers but hopefully we’re able to play in one league and represent our country.”

Canada’s coach Lisa Thomaidis looks forward to reaping the rewards of the players’ solid WNBA seasons.

“It’s been fun to watch,” Thomaidis said. “Playing in that league, playing significant roles and playing against the athletes they play against day and day out and then coming into our context I think they bring a level of toughness. We’ve always spoken very highly about their basketball IQ, and that only grows when you get to play against so many different systems on an almost daily basis.

“I think they bring a lot to the table that they can share and help our whole group move forward.”

The Canadian women, ranked an all-time best fifth in the world, play exhibition games Sept. 7 versus Japan and Sept. 8 vs. the U.S. in Bridgeport, Conn. They’ll also face France, the U.S., and Senegal in a four-team tournament in France, Sept. 15-17 before travelling to Tenerife.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Nurse coming off excellent WNBA season that too few young girls got to watch

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