{"id":577268,"date":"2023-06-02T19:04:53","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T16:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/mississaugas-laeticia-amihere-is-the-next-wnba-star\/"},"modified":"2023-06-02T19:04:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T16:04:53","slug":"mississaugas-laeticia-amihere-is-the-next-wnba-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/mississaugas-laeticia-amihere-is-the-next-wnba-star\/","title":{"rendered":"#Mississauga&#8217;s Laeticia Amihere is the next WNBA star\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a261d16dd492\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a261d16dd492\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/mississaugas-laeticia-amihere-is-the-next-wnba-star\/#P_O_P_Q_U_I_Z_W_I_T_H_L_A_E_T_I_C_I_A\" >P O P\u00a0 Q U I Z\u00a0 W I T H\u00a0 L A E T I C I A<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n                            Basketball wasn\u2019t Laeticia Amihere\u2019s original <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a> plan, but she was too good not to become a champion\n                        <\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1246588\" style=\"width: 2010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"wp-image-1246588 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230516_Laeticia_Amihere_265_Ret-2-e1685717335820.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"3000\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u201cIn 2017, she went viral as the first Canadian woman ever to dunk during gameplay at an Amateur Athletic Union tournament.\u201d (Photograph by Brinson and Banks; Hair and Makeup by Kimberly Acevedo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>When Laeticia Amihere was a kid, complete strangers would stop her on the street to ask if she played basketball. The reason was obvious: she hit a healthy five-foot-seven before she hit Grade 6. In reality, Amihere preferred soccer and track, and when her older brothers shot hoops, she was relegated to water girl. Yet by 11, she was donning a Mississauga Monarchs jersey in her local house league. \u201cI think I started playing just so I wouldn\u2019t have to have those conversations with strangers anymore,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>Amihere\u2019s skill was evident im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tely. She was quite capable of charging the net, and her height made her a natural defender, meaning she could easily guard all five positions. Within four years, Amihere was playing provincial-level ball and, in 2017, she went viral as the first Canadian woman ever to dunk during gameplay at an Amateur Athletic Union tournament. When Canada\u2019s national team came calling, she was only 15.<\/p>\n<p>Nearing graduation, Amihere had racked up 54 offers from colleges and universities across North America. She ultimately chose to attend the University of South Carolina for the chance to play for Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley\u2014a five-time WNBA all-star. At USC, Amihere had some big wins: she and four of her teammates were known as \u201cThe Freshies,\u201d an uber-talented five-pack who, together, only lost nine games in four years. Staley has said Amihere is the most determined player she\u2019s ever coached, a quality that helped Amihere persevere when the losses inevitably set in: two ACL tears almost benched her for good, and her oldest brother, Kofi, died suddenly last August.<\/p>\n<p>Grieving her basketball-loving brother only further pushed Amihere to become one of the game\u2019s most powerful players. This spring, she was selected eighth overall by the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA draft, kissing a photo of Kofi before she took the stage. Off court, Amihere, now 21, is working to ensure that the next generation of towering tweens won\u2019t need the input of total strangers to realize their potential. (If you\u2019re curious, Amihere\u2019s current height is six-foot-three, three inches above the WNBA\u2019s average.) Last year, she founded Back to the Motherland, a not-for-profit that brings basketball to underserved communities in West Africa, where Amihere\u2019s parents are from. She also signed her first big sponsorship with Under Armour in May. There\u2019s buzz surrounding the possible creation of Canada\u2019s first WNBA team in Toronto. If the time comes for her to play on home soil again, she certainly won\u2019t be on water duty.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"P_O_P_Q_U_I_Z_W_I_T_H_L_A_E_T_I_C_I_A\"><\/span><strong>P O P\u00a0 Q U I Z\u00a0 W I T H\u00a0 L A E T I C I A<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Favourite sports flick: <\/b><i>The Game Plan<\/i>. \u201cI was totally obsessed with Dwayne \u2018The Rock\u2019 Johnson when I was growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>First concert: <\/b>Maverick City Music, an American worship band<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Most overused word: <\/b>\u201cI think it would probably be censored\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Can\u2019t-lose object: <\/b>Her phone\u2014and the 10,000 photos it stores<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><b>Career goal: <\/b>\u201cI\u2019m pursuing a master\u2019s in sports management. Coaching is a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async defer crossorigin=\"anonymous\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/culture\/the-prospect-wnba\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Basketball wasn\u2019t Laeticia Amihere\u2019s original game plan, but she was too good not to become a champion \u201cIn 2017, she went viral as the first Canadian woman ever to dunk during gameplay at an Amateur Athletic Union tournament.\u201d (Photograph by Brinson and Banks; Hair and Makeup by Kimberly Acevedo) When Laeticia Amihere was a kid,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":577269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/prospect_amihere_social_1200x629-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[158,130006],"class_list":["post-577268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-culture","tag-the-prospect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}