Ajax’s Christa Eniojukan to coach Canada’s women’s U23 side at GLOBL JAM in Toronto

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Published May 29, 2023 at 9:12 am

The first coach of Ontario Tech’s women’s basketball team will get her first international head coaching gig this summer when she guides Canada’s U23 team at the GLOBL JAM showcase at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Christa Eniojukan, who coached the Ridgebacks in their inaugural OUAA season in 2019-20, has been selected as head coach of Canada’s U23 women’s national team that will compete in Toronto July 12-16 in a tournament featuring some of the best young basketball players in the world.

“It is an honour to represent our country with the U23s in Toronto this summer,” Eniojukan said in a news release from Basketball Canada. “We have a vast amount of talent in this age group, and GLOBL JAM provides them an excellent opportunity to gain valuable international experience and showcase their talents at home. We’re incredibly excited for the chance to lead Canada at home.”

This is the second year for GLOBL JAM in Toronto and will feature U23 teams from Canada, the USA, Puerto Rico and Team Africa competing on the women’s side and Canada, the USA, Team Africa and Germany on the men’s side.

Eniojukan, an Ajax resident who was the head coach of the Durham Elite junior program before taking the helm at Ontario Tech, is currently the bench boss of the York Lions woman’s program, where she starred as a player from 2003-05.

While coaching Durham Elite she instituted Ontario Basketball and Basketball Canada long-term athlete development models to the program – and sent eight of players to NCAA Division-1 and U-Sports programs – and while at Ontario Tech she also served as a mentor in the Black Canadian Coach’s Association’s Black Female Coach Mentorship Program.

She also founded Active Scholars, which operates summer camps and other programming utilizing a unique combination of sports development and STEM education.

Eniojukan has been involved with Canada Basketball since 2010, assisting as a target athlete strategy coach at numerous training camps and last summer was a performance analyst with Canada’s entry at the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup 2022 in Hungary. At the provincial level she guided Team Ontario’s U17 to gold in 2015 and 2016 and silver in 2014 and 2017 at the Canada Basketball 17U National Championship.

Joining Eniojukan on the bench at GLOBL Jam will be assistant coaches Ajay Sharma and Tenicha Gittens, who will also be coaching Canada for the first time this summer, while Carrie Watts has been named performance analyst.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel Mitchell is returning as head coach of Canada’s U23 men’s team that will compete at the tournament.

Mitchell has experience with the senior squad since 2016 and was a part of the coaching staff during FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers, where Canada finished 11-1 en route to qualifying for this summer’s World Cup. Mitchell was also the head coach for Canada at the FIBA Men’s AmeriCup 2022 last summer in Brazil, where the team finished fourth.

The Toronto native spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors alongside fellow National Team coaches Nick Nurse and Nate Bjorkgren. Before joining the Raptors, Mitchell spent three seasons (2018-21) with the Charlotte Hornets before he began coaching with Raptors 905 and the Maine Red Claws in the G League.

Mitchell has also been involved in Giants of Africa and Basketball Without Borders initiatives, helping the game grow internationally.

The tournament kicks off July 1 with the women taking on Team Africa and men taking to the court against Germany.

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