Investment in national basketball centre provides ‘home’ for future generations
TORONTO — Humber Polytechnic and Canada Basketball have a relationship that stretches back decades.
When Canada Basketball vice president and executive director Rowan Barrett first tried out for the national team, he took the bus to the school’s north campus.
His son, Toronto Raptors forward and senior men’s team star RJ Barrett, played his first game as an age-group national team player at Humber and trained for his first international competition on the same floor his father had played on decades earlier.
“The first time I saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander play was at that hoop, he was a skinny 15-year-old, and Dillon Brooks too,” the elder Barrett said Wednesday, referring to two-time NBA MVP with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks.
If everything unfolds as intended, generations of Canadian basketball stars will be developing their skills on campus for decades to come.
On Wednesday, in the same gym that so many national team players have trained dating back to the early 1990s, the federal government announced a $76 million investment to create a “state-of-the-art” community and athletic centre that will serve as the official home for Canada Basketball and all of its training and operational needs.
The provincial government followed up with a $24 million investment to bring the total to $100 million.
It’s the latest in a series of investments that the federal government has made recently to bolster sports infrastructure across the country, which totals $1 billion.
“A Canada that comes together through sport is a Canada that’s strong. It’s a country united,” said the Honourable Adam van Koeverden, Secretary of State for Sport. “It’s a Canada that can stand up to anything or anyone.”
It may or may not be a coincidence that the federal government has identified sports as a national-building tool at the same time Canadian sovereignty has been routinely challenged.
But safe to say that Canada Basketball has had a dedicated national training centre at the top of its wish list for more than a decade, with former executive director Glen Grunwald having championed the cause and come close to the finish line multiple times, only to have a shift in the political winds see plans fall short.
For current Canada Basketball president and chief executive officer Michal Bartlett, having a new headquarters for basketball in the country is another vital step towards building and maintaining Canada as an international basketball power with the infrastructure to match.
“There’s nothing like having a home,” said Bartlett. “Your own institutional knowledge is there; you create your own habits. It’s going to be a place our athletes can count on. It’s a place they can come any time they’re in town, any time in their training cycle, even outside of training camps. And that’s our commitment to athletes in our program forever: you wear the Maple Leaf and this is a home base for you to get better in.”
National team veteran Kelly Olynyk put it this way: “The more you’re together, the more you train together, see each other — even just pick-up runs and stuff — that translates on the court (in competition). To have that opportunity right here, at Humber, is a massive deal for us.”
It’s more than just a high-performance training facility for Canada’s best players.
The project is nicknamed “The Hub” because the six new gymnasiums — on top of the three already on campus at Humber — will support provincial, national and international basketball competitions, Humber’s student-athlete needs as well as a commitment for 32,000 hours of community use each year in addition to an all-season soccer facility.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid,” said RJ Barrett, heading into his eighth NBA season as a 26-year-old. “I’ve had many practices here, games, just like so many of my friends, we all grew up in here. I can’t believe I’m going to be one of the players that gets to use these (new) facilities. This is a great day for Canada just because — I don’t know if anybody’s noticing — Canadian basketball is starting to get really serious.”