Brassard joins the Gems

JCU Townsville Fire coach Claudia Brassard will help steer Australia at the up-coming Under-17 Oceania Championships in Guam. A key phase in the qualifying process for the Under-19 World Championships in 2019, Brassard has been appointed as an assistant to Tracey York, who coached the Adelaide Lightning in 2016/17. Former Sydney Uni Flames and UC Capitals assistant Reece Potter rounds out the coaching panel. An Olympian and former captain of Team Canada, Brassard became the first former player to coach the Fire in 2016/17 when she took the reins from Chris Lucas. The Fire contested their sixth straight finals campaign before bowing out at the hands of the Flames, who went on to claim the WNBL title. Following her appointment for the Guam campaign, Brassard said she was looking forward to working alongside York and Potter. “I’m really looking forward to returning to the international basketball scene,” Brassard said. “Tracey is an experienced and proven coach, who was part of the panel that led the Sapphires to a gold medal at the World Championships last year and has a lot of value to offer. “There’s some extremely talented athletes coming through the pathway and hopefully we can help make them better players and take that first step towards qualifying for the Under-19 World Championships.” Meanwhile, Mark Wrobel will retain his position with the Australian Sapphires after being re-appointed recently. Wrobel, like York, was an assistant to Shannon Seebohm at the Under-17 World Championships last year, with Australia capturing gold. The feat helped Wrobel en route to being named the Basketball Queensland Male Coach of the Year at the weekend in Brisbane. Click here to read more about Claudia Brassard's appointment.