'I've grown a lot in Edmonton: Kia Nurse excited to play her first WNBA game on home soil

She will have plenty of friends and family by her side to cheer her on, including her older brother, Edmonton Oilers defenceman, Darnell Nurse.

Published Apr 27, 2024 • 4 minute read

Phoenix Mercury guard Kia Nurse (0) drives on Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, in Phoenix. Photo by Rick Scuteri /AP

Kia Nurse has played 161 WNBA games in her career and countless other professional games all around the world, but on May 4, she will be playing her first-ever professional game in Canada.

While it won’t be in her home province of Ontario and in Toronto, like her current teammate on the Canadian national team, Bridget Carleton, got to experience last year — it’s in Edmonton, a city that has become her second home over the last decade because the women’s national team trains out of the city’s Saville Community Sports Centre at the University of Alberta.

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Nurse, who was traded to the LA Sparks by the Seattle Storm on Jan. 31, will play her first preseason game in Edmonton at Rogers Place against Seattle.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve played a game in Edmonton. I think we qualified for the 2016 Olympics in Edmonton and there is so much history, and beautiful history with the Edmonton Grads, and that’s something we got to learn a lot about while we were there,” said Nurse earlier this week over a Zoom call.

“I’ve been coming to Edmonton for national team (training camps) since that first year when I was a 16-year-old and scared of everyone else. I’ve grown a lot in Edmonton.”

Growing in popularity

Women’s sports have grown in popularity over the last several years. The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) launched this past season with six teams (Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto). Women’s college basketball has risen in popularity in recent years with former Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark making a big impact.

TV numbers and attendance records have been broken on several occasions, showing there is a growing interest in women’s sports across North America.

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“I think we’re moving in that direction. As a female athlete, something we always talk about amongst ourselves and most of the circles we’re in is understanding that change happens at whatever rate it wants to happen at and usually it’s a lot slower than what we anticipate it at,” said Nurse.

“There is a lot of excitement around (women’s sports) right now, and we’re on the cusp of pushing forward and getting rid of some of those narratives about women’s sports and that nobody watches… it’s blatantly obvious with the numbers and the videos people are seeing, there is a want and desire to watch.

“The energy and the buzz is there for everybody and our leagues are continuing to grow. It feels like we’re getting to that top where it’s going to boil over in the right direction.”

For Nurse, this exhibition game in Edmonton is even more meaningful. She will have plenty of friends and family by her side to cheer her on, including her older brother, Edmonton Oilers defenceman, Darnell Nurse.

Nurse’s game was originally scheduled for May 5, but with the Oilers currently battling the Los Angeles Kings in the first round of the playoffs, it got pushed a day earlier.

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“I think what I’m really excited about as we have actually kind of missed each other in the last couple of years because I’m always in camp (during the NHL playoffs),” said Nurse, who’s also played for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty.

“It’s weird, now my parents are coming here (to Los Angeles for Games 3 and 4)… we can all get dinner together and then he’s gonna play his games and we’re gonna go watch them and then come back to Edmonton. So we’re going to get a full extra week with my family, which is nice.

Canada’s Kia Nurse drives to the basket past Puerto Rico’s Tayra Melendez during the 2022 Women’s Basketball World Cup quarter-final match between Puerto Rico and Canada at Sydneydome on September 29, 2022, in Sydney. Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP Photo by WILLIAM WEST /AFP via Getty Images

Ready for Olympics this summer

Nurse will play a big part in Canada’s chase for a medal at the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris. It will be her third Olympic Games.

After tearing her ACL in 2021, and it limiting her when she returned to the court in 2023, she’s fully healthy and ready to take her game to another level.

“For me, personally, it’s great, this will be my third Olympics,” said Nurse.

“But I don’t just want to go to an Olympics. I want to come home with some hardware, and I think that’s the mindset for a lot of us who are going back there for multiple times.”

Nurse believes she’s over all the physical and mental hurdles of her knee injury and while it’s been a long journey in recovery, she feels she’s back to the level of being a dominant player on the court.

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“I think (last season) that’s where I felt it a bit more, that difficulty and battle of feeling more like yourself, and the self that you want to be right away and what your body is physically able to do,” said Nurse.

“I’m excited for this new opportunity and this team and organization. This team and role here I can play on this team… there’s more to the role here than I had in Seattle.”

While Nurse certainly wants to help lead the Sparks to win over Seattle in Edmonton, she has another goal, while in Edmonton, this time as her role as an aunt.

“My nephew, (Darnell’s oldest) is almost three, and he’s on skates, so I need to make sure he sees a good basketball game, so it gives him an opportunity to fall in love with our sport, too,” said Nurse.

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