OSBA PRE-SEASON PREVIEW: CAPITAL COURTS ACADEMY

After a successful inaugural year for Ontario Scholastic Basketball Academy’s (OSBA) women’s division, the league has expanded and welcomes Capital Courts Academy to the league. Hailing from Ottawa, the Capital Hoops Academy program is hoping to prove that they belong with the best prep teams in the country.

“We are very appreciative of having such an amazing opportunity for our athletes to play in such a high-level league. The fact that the league is overseen by the provincial and national bodies, gives young athletes extra motivation to work hard and perform well,” said head coach Fabienne Blizzard who led Team Ontario’s U15 girls to gold at Canada Basketball’s national championships this summer.

Hoping to leave a lasting impression in their debut season, CCA plans to compete with the best this year. Capital Courts had a busy offseason recruiting and landing players who they believe are fit to help build the program for years to come. The brand new program welcomes eight players to the team, in hopes that their small roster will be talented enough to compete on any given night. Key additions who will be looked at early for both leadership and direction in their rookie years include class of 2020 Merissah Russell (6’0 G) who is an exceptional athlete that will bring creativity and excitement to the style of basketball that the program wants to play, and class of 2020 Isabella “Bella” Gaudet (5’9 PG) who is a technically sound athlete that will set the tone for practices and games year-round.

As a first-year program with an eight player rookie roster, Capital Courts Academy will face a lot of adversity this season. In a growing league packed with talented teams the program hopes that their unproven roster can both surprise teams and leave a lasting impression on their opponents.