Swords to coach team canada

Date and Time :     3 July, 2013 — 15:55 pm

Game Recap:

SUDBURY, ON – Laurentian’s men’s basketball bench boss is returning to the Universaide Games as a coach for Team Canada, a tournament where he won two medals as a player in the mid-‘90s.  Shawn Swords was named as an Assistant Coach to a coaching staff that includes former Toronto Raptors coach, Jay Triano as Head Coach, current Waterloo Warriors bench boss, Greg Francis, and the newest head coach in the OUA, John Campbell from the University of Toronto.

Swords represented Canada as a player at the event in 1995 and again in 1997.  The 1995 games were held in Fukuoka, Japan and the Canadian team walked away with a bronze medal while an American team featuring the likes of Ray Allen, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson walked away with the gold.  In 1997, Swords helped to guide the Canadian team to a silver medal, coming up short to the Americans in the final in Sicily, Italy.

“It is always special representing your country.  It was the best experience of my playing career and to be able to coach young Canadian talent will once again be a great experience,” said Swords.

Swords will be reuniting with Triano, his coach during his time on the national team, and Francis, who was a teammate of Shawn’s for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.  Also joining the staff is John Campbell, a former bench boss of the women’s team at Laurentian who just recently left Dalhousie for an opportunity to take over head coaching duties for the Varsity Blues men’s program.

The team will be meeting for a training camp in Toronto on June 28^th before heading to the Universaide Games in Kazan, Russia on July 3^rd.  The team opens the tournament on July 7^th against Sweden and will play 5 round robin games in 6 days as they look to improve on the silver medal they got in 2011 in Shenzen, China.  Keep to date with Swords and the rest of Team Canada by going to http://english.cis-sic.ca/universiade/summer/2013/index.

Bryan Carruthers