Yeah

...

but it is true.

Um, you know, we know we've got a committed group of players, a committed group of coaches, a great staff.

We've been able to invest in our program, men's and women's, at the level that it deserves as players.

So you talk about when a player leaves our environment and then goes has a standout season.

We'd like to take, some, credit's the wrong word, but we take pride in it, because when they're with us, they're actually, um, in a pro environment that makes it easier for them to develop and then really hit that supercharge, uh, into the, into their season.

Sure.

As a C-suite level executive at that super high level, how do you create that environment there to drive culture and to get the results that you've gotten? Like, tell us a little bit about leadership strategy.

Yeah, it's, you know, I think it's the most important part of my job is establishing vision and culture for the organization.

And I was one, at, at every step in my career path, had kinda fancied myself as a culture engine and somebody who understood it.

Um, but frankly, it was kinda more of like a finger in the air.

Does this feel right? Like, so we've actually done some data work at Canada Basketball when I started to establish a better understanding of what is connecting people to our ambitions and visions, where the gaps are in communication, what's making them feel a certain way versus another way, and how we can close that gap.

So there-- The benefit of having data insights now available to you, um, also using AI platforms to do pulse checks with staff on the regular just to make sure that you can't take culture for granted, and you actually have to nurture it and foster it, so I'm a big believer in that.

Being very clear with setting an ambition that everybody is attracted to.

A, a female athlete that you've seen that's just next level or, or a moment in, in women's sports.

Yes.

Because even talking to Rowan last week, these guys all really like each other.

You know, RJ, Shai, Dillon.

The Knicks, you could tell, had that kind of vibe with that team.

So I do think there is something to be said for, for chemistry and just, like, locker room culture.

Yeah, and there, there's a story from last summer that we haven't widely told that, you know, going into last summer, it was an Americup summer.

We went with our very young, like, next gen roster and European guys.

Mm-hmm