Lisa Thomaidis
Personal information
Born (1972-07-23) 23 July 1972 (age 51)
Dundas, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Career history
1996–1998Apollon Ptolemaidas

Lisa Thomaidis is a Canadian basketball coach who is the head coach of the Saskatchewan Huskies women's basketball program, winning the Bronze Baby National Championship Trophy in 2016 and 2020. She was also the head coach for the Canada women's national basketball team from 2014 to September, 2021.[1][2]

Early life and education

Thomaidis went to McMaster University to study kinesiology and joined the university's women's basketball team. After moving to Greece and play for Apollon Ptolemaidas, an injury ended her basketball career and led her to coaching.[3]

Career

Starting in 1998, Thomaidis began coaching women's basketball at the University of Saskatchewan. Throughout her career as coach for the Saskatchewan Huskies, she led the team to multiple Canada West titles, with their first championship win in 2006.[4] Outside the University of Saskatchewan, Thomaidis was an assistant coach for Canada women's national basketball team from 2002 to 2013, which included a quarter final performance at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[5]

Head coach

In 2013, she replaced Allison McNeill as head coach and her team won silver at the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women.[6] Following her promotion, Thomaidis led Canada's women's basketball team to a fifth-place finish at the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women and a gold medal at the 2015 Pan American Games.[7] Thomaidis's team came in seventh at the 2016 Summer Olympics and won a gold medal at the 2017 FIBA Women's AmeriCup.[8]

In April 2023, she was appointed head coach of the German women's national team.[9]

Awards and honours

During her university basketball coaching career, Thomaidis has been named coach of the year multiple times by Canadian Interuniversity Sport and Canada West.[5] In 2006, Thomaidis was inducted into the McMaster Athletics Hall of Fame.[10] Thomaidis was also named best coach of 2015 at the Petro-Canada Sport Leadership Awards[11] and the Saskatchewan Sports Awards.[12]

Personal life

Her father Christos was born at Mesochori in Florina, Greece.[15]

References

  1. ^ "CB Announces Lisa Thomaidis as SWNT Head Coach". Basketball Canada. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Canada Basketball, women's coach Lisa Thomaidis part ways after Olympic disappointment". CBC News. 28 September 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  3. ^ Bianchi, Celine (6 May 2016). "In (Coach) Thomaidis' Corner". Edmonton Woman. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Lisa Thomaidis learns game from the coaching perspective". Sask Sport. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  5. ^ a b Ewing, Lori (20 March 2013). "Canada Basketball names Lisa Thomaidis coach of senior women's team". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Meet the female coaches heading up the Women's basketball at Rio 2016…". Female Coaching Network. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  7. ^ Smith, Doug (10 August 2015). "Lisa Thomaidis credits Canadian system for being only female coach at FIBA Olympic qualifier". The Toronto Star. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  8. ^ Zary, Darren (15 August 2017). "Double dribble: Thomaidis pushes through another busy b-ball summer doing double coaching duty". Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Lisa Thomaidis ist neue Damen-Bundestrainerin". Deutscher Basketball-Bund (in German). 25 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  10. ^ "McMaster Athletics Hallof Fame". marauders.ca. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  11. ^ "Archives Lisa Thomaidis named 2015 Jack Donohue "Coach of the Year"". Coach.ca. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Saskatchewan Sports Awards". Sask Sport. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Harrison, Kozun named Huskie Athletics top athletes". huskies.usask.ca/news. 1 April 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
  14. ^ "After a banner year for women and sport, the 2016 Most Influential Women List showcases the impact being made by Canadian women". presto-en.usports.ca. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Το... ελληνικό "μυαλό" του Καναδά!" (in Greek). Sports DNA. 22 September 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
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