Victor Lapeña is trying to lead Canada to Olympic glory 

When Canada’s senior women’s basketball coach Victor Lapeña wakes up every day, he crosses the Atlantic Sea to return to his longed-for Mediterranean Sea by looking through the window. The Lake Ontario views from his home in Port Credit remind him of his city on the Catalan coast, Tarragona, located 100 kilometers south of Barcelona. 

But what really makes the Spaniard feel like he’s at home is not what he sees, but what he hears from his players at the end of every practice when they huddle up and enthusiastically proclaim the final battle cry. 

“Vamos chicas!” they yell in Spanish to the delight of Lapeña. The sentence can be translated as “Let’s go girls” in English.

The Canadians try their best to help the 49-year-old coach break down the language barrier as he keeps improving his English. 

“Being a leader in English is a challenge, I want to communicate a lot of things in Spanish, but in English, it’s not the same,” said the Women’s national team coach, who acknowledges he is jealous of how well his three kids, living in Toronto with him alongside his wife, speak the language. 

“But the only thing the girls tell me is that I’ve improved a lot, and I love it. They tell me “Wow coach, we can tell you have strived!”. And they, as a thank you, help me and when we finished the practice say that in Spanish. And it makes you feel good,” said the Spaniard, who got appointed coach of the national team in August 2022. 

Nevertheless, despite the language struggles, the adventure of moving to a country with a different culture along with his family, Lapeña and Canada have clicked and not just in terms of basketball success. Among other ways, the coach and his relatives have gotten accustomed to the Canadian meal times. No more meals at untimely Spanish hours, with lunches at 2 p.m. and dinners at 10 p.m. 

“Being a leader in English is a challenge”

Victor Lapeña

“We have already got used to having lunch at noon and having dinner at 6 p.m.,” he said while chuckling, knowing many of their countrymen might put their hands on their heads when they see his new habits.   

“My family and I are very happy to be part of this beautiful country. Canadian players are amazing and I’m getting hooked on the country, they make you feel like one more Canadian since the first day you come. There are people from different countries and cultures and this is very helpful,” he said. 

Lapeña shares nothing but smiles when speaking and walking around the Canada Basketball office and the energy and the passion he expresses when talking about hoops is contagious. His non-decorated office shows his humbleness and simplicity. 

His charismatic personality and basketball knowledge from coaching women’s teams in Spain and Europe since 2003 have prevailed over any language barrier. The Spaniard has led Canada to an unstoppable and resplendent rise. The national team finished fourth in the 2022 World Cup reaching its best result in the last 36 years, and clinched the bronze medal in the 2023 FIBA AmeriCup. Finally, it qualified for the upcoming Paris Olympics in February. Lapeña has earned his extension with Canada until 2026. 

Under sight of the sky-high Eiffel Tower, the Canadians want to reach new heights, and Lapeña voiced their ambition ahead of the competition, which starts on July 29 for the national team against host France. Canada secured its spot in February after Spain’s impressive victory against Hungry, which made the Canadians burst into delirium before the screen in a hectic and memorable moment. 

“The goal is making it to the quarter-final and, from there, dreaming of the first Olympic medal in women’s basketball,” said Lapeña, who highlighted the difficulty of the group Canada was drawn, with Nigeria, Australia, and France. 

The Aussies are a very familiar face for the Canadians as they beat for the bronze medal in the last World Cup. Australia has a roster loaded with WNBA talent, including veteran Rebecca Allen (Phoenix Mercury) and WNBA champions Alanna Smith (Minnesota Lynx) and Ezi Magbegor (Seattle Storm), not to mention former WNBAer and four-time Olympic medalist Lauren Jackson. 

As for France, Les Bleues don’t currently have any players from the best basketball league, but Marine Johannes, Iliana Rupert, and Gabby Williams have competed in the WNBA and they are now in Europe. Johannes and Williams play in the French League and Rupert in Italy. The French side clinched the bronze in Tokyo 2020. 

Nigeria is the most unknown side, but it has been dominant in Africa after winning four consecutive AfroBasket championships since 2017 and its roster should feature several players who compete in Europe.

“There aren’t easy opponents in these Olympics as [there are at other times]. Nigeria is also a solid team, we are facing rivals with players who compete in Europe and some of them have grown up in the U.S. Even WNBA players,” he said. 

Although Lapeña is optimistic by nature, he admitted Canada still has some work to do after dispiriting defeats in the tuneup to the Olympics. The Canadians lost against Spain by a wide margin last Saturday (61-48) and they got punched by Belgium on Sunday (81-51). 

“On the one hand, I don’t see the team is playing badly but, on the other hand, not very well yet. Our handicap, besides the WNBA players joining the team just one week before the Olympics, is that several players have not competed during the year and they are important players. It was very difficult for us to compete against teams such as Spain and Belgium. We played against Belgium one day after having played (against Spain) and they beat us easily with their rhythm,” he said. 

“We have to manage to adapt the WNBA players into the team and to make the players with no rhythm play coming off the bench and they can play as starters when they get into a rhythm. But they are making progress,” Lapeña said. 

The Canadian roster features up to four WNBA players with Kia Nurse (Los Angeles Sparks) as the most outstanding name, followed by Bridget Carleton (Minnesota Lynx) and emerging talents Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics) and Laeticia Amihere (Atlanta Dream).

“We dream of the first Olympic medal in women’s basketball”

Victor Lapeña

Youngsters Yvonne Ejim, Sami Hill, Cassandre Prosper, and Syla Swords, who will become the youngest Canadian basketball player to play the Olympics at 18 years old, will make their debut in the Olympics. All of them are still college players and haven’t competed since March, which adds more difficulty to assembling the team. 

As a longtime expert in the international game having worked and medaled with Spain in youth and senior teams, Lapeña knows having a core of players who have played and built game habits together over time make the difference in these kinds of tournaments. This is a rule of thumb that sometimes might transcend the advantage of having stars. 

The Zaragoza native is facing a complex puzzle with a few missing pieces that he will have to fit together in such a short period, but he said the team still has time. 

“There are two weeks left and let’s see if we can reach the minimum to compete against France. WNBA players will have one week to acclimatize. We’ll have two games in a good tournament in Spain,” the coach said. 

“They have to try their best, applying some of the ideas they already know.  They have to grow with the team and do simple things for their talent to shine. They are in shape and healthy and it’s the most important thing,” said Lapeña.

Canada will play against Australia on Tuesday and Spain again on Wednesday in Segovia to continue its Olympic preparation. Despite not having been able to put all the players together due to distinct circumstances, Lapeña said the youngest players have already proved a lot with the national team. 

“The advantage of not having the WNBA players in the AmeriCup is that we could play the youngsters and we competed well and earned the bronze. We have examples such as Syla Swords, who is already a senior and is part of the Olympic team, and this is because we did important previous work as we did with Cassandre,” he said. 

“I also have good veterans, although some are just 27. But they are very good veterans, girls who are very clear about what they want, people who care about the team. The youngsters have grown under their leadership, establishing a winning culture and building personal relationships,” he said. 

Valencia’s center Kayla Alexander, at 33 years old, 31-year-old forward Natalie Achonwa, and 30-year-old point İzmit Belediyespor’s guard Nirra Fields are the only players at 30 or over 30 in the Canadian Olympic team.   

An energetic and fun-to-see play style 

Lapeña has a hungry and talented team at his disposal, plus the support of a core of players who have embraced the personality and the methods of the Spaniard from the beginning. However, he is aware that simplicity is the recipe for success, especially in Canada’s case, with such a shortage of time to fit all the pieces into the system.  

Canada might not aspire to have a dense playbook with set plays, but it might be a dazzling, fast, and gruelling team that leaves opponents out of breath and takes viewers’ breath away.

“I’d like basketball with a lot of transitions, it’s when we play at our best. Not just fast transitions, but also transitions with enough space to get quick advantages. We have good shooters, people who post up early, several creative players and it’s when we get good looks, when we play with more fluidity in our game,” Lapeña said.  

“We are more prepared to do a transition play rather than a half-court game. If we play good defence we will be able to run. We are not an incredible team counterattacking, but we’ll find good advantages from defence. Finding advantages will be harder for us at half-court, where we’ll be green. But we might grow during the tournament if everything goes well,” he said. 

“[The] American style is different from [the] European one. I have to learn how to make basketball easier for them taking their background into account. I want to give the players freedom, but with rules,” said Lapeña highlighting one of his principles to implement a successful identity in the Canadian national team. 

How Lapeña creates a bond with the players   

Canada might lack some synchronization on the court, but building ties around the basket is easier when emotional ones are solid. As his countryman and men’s coach Jordi Fernandez, Lapeña strongly believes that getting to the heart of the players is a starting point from where to reach any destination. 

“But the level Jordi is at is perfect,” said Lapeña modestly. 

“You have to have very open communication, the players have to feel you are open to talk, to understand them, to understand anything, and have a huge honesty. You have to care about them and understand who they are, and where they are from. In Canada it is even more important, because some come from complicated environments and have grown up in hard environments,” he said. 

“Canada is multicultural. In Spain, it’s easier even though the country has changed, but this is a multicultural country and you have to consider it,” Lapeña said. 

Syla Swords will become the youngest Canadian player to compete in the Olympics at 18 years old.

“They have to feel you are thinking of them and the rest of the staff care about their well-being. They have to feel I’m not just here to take advantage of the fact they are good players,” he said. 

The Spaniard also encourages the players to explore other interests outside basketball and urges them to read books, he told Dough Smith in an interview with the Toronto Star. 

“I’m not forcing them to do anything. I like to motivate them to study, to care about their culture because I believe that makes the players more open-minded and it gives them more ability,” Canada’s coach said. Watching the players not be glued to the screens all the time is another concern for Victor in this era in which remaining connected sometimes means an increasing disconnectedness.

“You can do whatever you feel like in your free time, but instead of spending all the time with the phone, play board games, especially the youngsters. But in Canada, they like to hang out together, they meet in the family room, and it has surprised me for the better. You don’t have to impose, most of them are over 18, but you have to motivate them,” Lapeña said. 

The bright future of Canada 

Despite the magnitude of the challenge, coaching the Women’s senior team is barely the tip of the iceberg for Victor Lapeña. The Spaniard is also involved in the program that Canada Basketball is developing from the grassroots. He is bringing the perspective of the long-standing successful Spanish program into the growing Canadian system. 

“Canada Basketball hired me to be the coach of the national team, but also to work in the program. I’ve transmitted my knowledge and I like to say I’ve brought new ideas and adapted them to the Canadian style by looking for young players and promoting competitiveness among them in the Junior Academy, making them play international games, creating a style from the senior team to the youth teams and training coaches,” he said. 

“We have amazing athletes, among the best in the world. We want to teach them nice and efficient basketball, in which they share the ball considering the influence of the U.S., which is a lot of one-on-one. It’s where I can help and I think we are getting there. There is an impressive team to work with, and we are learning from each other. They have grown with few resources,” Lapeña said. 

“Last year, in the U-19 World Cup, we finished third and we had Spain against the ropes,” he said, naming one of the most important recent achievements of Canadian youth teams. 

Canada’s players celebrate the silver medal they have just won in the U17 World Cup. Canada Basketball.

The silver that Canada has just captured at the FIBA U17 World Cup is just another proof of the unstoppable growth of national basketball at all levels. 

Lapeña also highlighted the much-awaited foundation of a WNBA team in Toronto, which was officially announced in May and is set to start to compete in 2026. For him, it’s the finishing piece in the solid structure through which Canadian basketball is thriving. 

“Canadian basketball was missing two things: one was a WNBA team and the other one a professional basketball league. We have the first thing and they are working on the other one. The WNBA team will help a lot and I hope they select a lot of Canadians for the team,” he said. 

Besides former Raptor executive Teresa Resch being the president of the franchise, there is much about the new team that remains unknown, even basic details such as the name or the logo. The coach is another unknown, but Lapeña is open to taking the role if it is offered.  

“Why not coach this team in the future? Once I’m here, it’s a matter of preparing myself well. If the opportunity to have an interview comes up at some point looking ahead to the future I’ll be charmed. One more challenge,” he said. 

Esto sucedió anoche. Canadá consiguió el bronce en la @americupw de México y todo el equipo salió a rueda de prensa con Víctor Lapeña. Las jugadoras al final del vídeo: "Gracias", "Vamos chicas", "Feliz cumpleaños"…

Con Lapeña y Jordi Fernández, cada día más: pic.twitter.com/6SevYmoPS7

— Luis Vallejo (@Lvallejocolom) July 10, 2023

However, Lapeña is just entirely focused on the exciting present, on lighting up the already bright future of Canadian basketball with the chance to earn the shine of its first Olympic medal ever in the City of Light.  

After Canada conquered the bronze last year in the AmeriCup, and while Lapeña was remarking the players had made him a better coach and a better person in the press conference, the players burst into shouts behind him, yelling the already familiar battle cry “Vamos chicas.” 

Paris is used to hearing “Vamos” after having seen Spaniard Rafa Nadal winning Roland Garros 14 times and Carlos Alcaraz clinching his first trophy this year. But it might be time to hear it with a different accent. 

The post Victor Lapeña is trying to lead Canada to Olympic glory  first appeared on Raptors Republic.