R and R coming for Audino
Lauren Audino is looking forward to a break.
The 18-year-old Welland native spent about two weeks at a training camp with Canada’s under-19 national women’s basketball program before heading to Western Michigan for summer training with the NCAA Division 1 team.
That training will end Aug. 20 and the former Pelham Panthers travel player will have about 11 days at home before returning to Kalamazoo, Mich.
“I’m excited to take a break because I am also doing a summer course right now. I have been doing basketball and school and by the time I get to go home that will course will be over so I am going to enjoy the time with my family and my friends,” she said. “I can’t wait to see everybody before I go back.”
Her R and R schedule includes biking, swimming and sleepovers with her friends.
“We have already been planning for it forever,” she said, with a laugh.
Audino was invited to attend the Team Canada camp as the alternate at the post position and there was also a guard alternate at the camp in addition to the 12 athletes selected to go to Hungary for the FIBA U19 World Cup. Niagara Prep player Emma Koabel, a Port Colborne native, made the team.
“They couldn’t hold tryouts because of COVID and everything and I was initially cut. They picked the team based on assumptions from previous years on how people have performed,” she said. “I was glad to be able to go and show them because I have developed so much since the last time they saw me play two years ago. I was just happy for the experience.”
In 2019, she represented Canada at the FIBA U16 Women’s Americas Championship in Aysen, Chile, and helped Canada win a silver medal by averaging 6.3 points and 5.8 rebounds a game.
The training camp was held at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
“It is a big, big prep school with five NBA courts and the court we were practising on was the Cavaliers court from the NBA finals that they won,” Audino said. “It was very cool.”
Her time at the camp required her to be adaptable.
“The first day was a bit of an adjustment because at school I am always the five at Michigan because I am the tallest,” she said. “I came back here and there were girls that were 6-3 and 6-4 so I played the four position a little bit more. It wasn’t horrible but it was a bit of an adjustment.
“After the first day, I got in the flow of things and made the connections with the girls that I have played with before. It ended up going really well for me.”
She had little time to rest after the camp before heading to Western Michigan.
“It’s more skills stuff,” Audino said. “The hardest part is in the weight room because this is the time they are trying to develop us to get bigger and stronger.”
She joined Western Michigan Broncos last December, playing in five games and averaging 1.8 minutes and 0.8 points per game.
“Coming in I wasn’t expecting any playing time. I just wanted to get into practices early because we couldn’t do anything in Canada,” she said. “I wanted to come in early and get ahead of my 2021 class and all that. The time that I did get on the court I was very thankful for because I just came mostly for the training. It gave me extra edge and I have been helping out the freshmen because I know my way around campus, the gym and all that kind of stuff.”
That initial experience should pay dividends in the 2021-22 season.
“It’s just knowing and having connections with my teammates. I already have good communication with our points guards and posts. Being with the team for so long, I don’t have to come in and work on those connections and that will help on the court, for sure.”
She can’t wait for the season to start.
“I want to help my team in any way that I can, if that’s on the court or being a quick sub off the bench,” the former Team Ontario member said. “I don’t know what the season is going to look like but I am hoping the hard work that I have put in in the offseason will pay off and result in more playing time on the court.”
