ABA celebrates Lisa Thomaidis for a tremendous coaching tenure with the Senior Women's National Team

Canada Basketball recently announced a mutually agreement to part ways with Lisa Thomaidis, who had served as head coach of the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team (SWNT) since 2013.

Thomaidis was at the helm during a period of unprecedented success for the SWNT. She led Canada to two consecutive Olympic appearances at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as well as a fifth-place finish at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women, the country’s second highest finish ever at the tournament.

Under her guidance, the team also earned gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Games, 2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship and FIBA Women’s AmeriCup 2017. Additionally, Canada reached its current all-time high of fourth in the FIBA World Rankings while being coached by Thomaidis.

Thomaidis made a tremendous contribution to basketball in Canada during her SWNT head coach tenure, and her impact was especially felt in our province, where the SWNT has made its home training base in Edmonton at the Saville Community Sports Centre since 2013.

'There have been many great outcomes of having the Canada Basketball women's Olympic team making its home in Edmonton this past 9 years,” says Paul Sir, executive director of the Alberta Basketball Association (ABA).

“The impact of the team on girls has been a major part of our numbers of female participants growing at a time when many provinces' numbers have been declining,” Sir continues.

“The presence of Lisa Thomaidis as the head coach has been a major part of this happening. Lisa's kind demeanor when talking to players who attended practices or games always left people feeling like they were special in her eyes.” 

Thomaidis was very involved with the SWNT’s community outreach that ABA worked with Canada Basketball to facilitate. These initiatives included school visits and youth clinics.

As a member of the basketball community in Edmonton, and specifically working with women's basketball, it's been such an amazing opportunity to have our Senior Women's National Team train here,” said Lauren Green, head coach of the multi-time champion Jasper Place high school girls senior team.

“As a female coach, it's also been amazing to have someone like Lisa as the head coach and leader of the program. In all of my interactions with her, she has been genuine, kind, and always willing to share thoughts and ideas from her experiences,” Green adds.

“She would always go out of her way to say hi and ask me how I was doing and ask about my basketball program. To have her to look up to and be accessible has made an impact in my coaching career.”

The sight of Thomaidis leading practice became familiar every summer at the Saville Community Sports Centre, where local teams would often get the opportunity to scrimmage against the SWNT, providing the likes of the Concordia University of Edmonton’s men’s team opportunity to be on the same court as Olympians.

"It was a pleasure to have Coach Lisa here in Edmonton and to watch her work with the best basketball talent in the country,” says Reagan Wood, Concordia head coach. “We were privileged to have the opportunity to bring our guys in to help them prepare for upcoming competitions.  

“While we were there help them, I truly feel like we were the ones getting more out of it. To see the dedication, commitment, level of execution and discipline that our women played with was truly remarkable,” continues Wood, four-time Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference North Division Coach of the Year.

“My appreciation for women in sport grew exponentially through those experiences.  We learned many valuable things that we were able to take back to our own gym and apply with the guys.”

The SWNT did not lose in the Alberta capital during Thomaidis’ tenure, going 17-0 as Edmonton hosted the 2015 FIBA America’s Women’s Championship, the FIBA Americas Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in 2019, and the Edmonton Grads International Classic in 2014, 2016 and 2018.

“I personally have had the opportunity to observe many great coaches over the years. Lisa is as good as any coach I have ever seen," Sr says.

"Her technical teaching abilities are superb. Her ability to unite, galvanize and create a strong team culture within the framework of her personality was special to watch. Lisa is always true to herself and dedicated to the team and the country.”

ABA congratulates Thomaidis on a tremendous tenure with the SWNT and wishes her the best as she continues coaching the University of Saskatchewan women’s basketball team.

“Canada owes her a debt of gratitude for her commitment and dedication on the journey to develop one of the best women's basketball programs in the world,” Sir adds. “Thank you, Lisa. Edmonton will miss you.”