It\u2019s hard to find a coach who has had a bigger rise in women\u2019s basketball in Canada over the past decade than Toronto Tempo assistant Carly Clarke.<\/p>\n
Clarke, who played five seasons at Bishop\u2019s University in Sherbrooke, Que., took over as the head coach of Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s women\u2019s basketball program in 2012 and transformed it into a contender, winning three Ontario University Athletics (OUA) titles and had an undefeated season that resulted in a U Sports national championship in 2021-22.<\/p>\n
She has also been a fixture on the coaching staff internationally for Canada, serving as an assistant at two Olympics (2020 and 2024), led the U19 national team to two FIBA World Cup bronze medals in 2017 and 2023, and has also helmed the U23 national team.<\/p>\n
Now, she is one of five assistant coaches to head coach Sandy Brondello in the Tempo\u2019s inaugural season and holds the distinction of being the first Canadian coach on Canada\u2019s first WNBA team.<\/p>\n
Clarke, who hails from Halifax but has made Toronto home, resigned as head coach of the TMU Bold to accept the Tempo job in March and said it came with mixed emotions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think honestly when I knew I was getting the offer, the opportunity, it was a no-brainer,\u201d Clarke told TSN.ca in an interview. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean that it was easy to leave by any means. I\u2019ve made so many strong connections and relationships with all the people there – past players, current players, incoming players. All of that was extremely difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I knew the opportunity to work with the best in the best league in the world, especially in my home city, was something I could not pass up.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 14 seasons with TMU, Clarke coached the program to a 286-150 record and took home OUA Coach of the Year in 2022.<\/p>\n
Through 40 games this season, the Tempo are 13th in the WNBA at 11-29 and dropped four straight games heading into the FIBA World Cup break. The season resumes for Toronto on Friday against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever. <\/p>\n
Clarke said she has several responsibilities as an assistant in Toronto, which include working closely with players, reviewing game film and preparing scouting reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of us, as assistant coaches, have responsibility for player development,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cWe\u2019re all assigned a few players that we work with on a daily basis, whether it\u2019s individual skill, film breakdown, game warm-up. So that\u2019s a big part of the role.<\/p>\n
\u201cI work a little bit more on the offensive side. Although overall, as a staff, we\u2019re fully collaborative. And then in-game, I\u2019m responsible for challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two players Clarke has worked extensively with this season on the Tempo are forwards Laura Juskaite and Maria Conde, who are both playing in their first WNBA seasons after extensive experience playing in Europe.<\/p>\n
Juskaite, 28, is averaging 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists through 40 games this season while the 29-year-old Conde is averaging 8.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33 games. <\/p>\n
Clarke has noticed one key difference between the European and North American approach to the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one of the biggest difference European-wise or internationally is the understanding of how to play off the ball and how to share and move the basketball,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cNot that North American players don\u2019t do that. I think it\u2019s just emphasized in a different way internationally. The way they see the game and read the game, and obviously both of them have a ton of experience internationally as well. That\u2019s really shown up for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
This season also marks the first time Clarke is working exclusively with pro-level players day in and day out for an entire season instead of student-athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest difference is that at this level, it\u2019s their job,\u201d said Clarke. \u201cThe passion is similar, but not always the same. At the university level, you\u2019re having to balance the academics and the other factors that the student-athletes are navigating on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tempo have had a unique schedule in their debut season. While they\u2019ve spent most of their home games in Toronto at Coca-Coliseum, they\u2019ve also had home games at Montreal\u2019s Bell Centre and Vancouver\u2019s Rogers Arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of my summers over the last decade or more traveling with the national team, so it\u2019s kind of felt like that,\u201d said Clarke of the travel. \u201cSome really cool cities. Love the time in San Francisco. I hadn\u2019t been to Seattle before. It was great to see there. Brooklyn\u2019s always a fun place to play and visit.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Tempo have just four regular-season games left on the schedule, ending on Sept. 24 against the Connecticut Sun and will miss the playoffs after injuries piled up and inconsistent play crept in with players constantly in and out of the lineup. <\/p>\n
This off-season will have a different look for Clarke, who coached through the school year the past 14 years. She said there are national team responsibilities and is set to find out soon what the Tempo\u2019s off-season work will be. <\/p>\n
On top of that as well as prioritizing downtime after the season, Clarke has one more thing she will make time for. <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, get to some TMU games,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to find a coach who has had a bigger rise in women\u2019s basketball in Canada over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[712,49,48,82,243298,630],"class_list":["post-896997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-toronto-tempo-sports-basketball-team-team-statscom-45513","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}