Feature image via: Kieron Place Art & Photography
When she first visited Australia to represent her home country of Canada in the 2000 Olympics, Claudia Brassard never would have thought she would spend the majority of her life down under.
Between being recruited as an import for the Townsville Fire, coaching the team to a championship, working for the council and now the club, Brassard has spent over 20 years in the regional city. And in 2025, she will now take on the next challenge as the head coach of the Townsville Flames.
While it’s quite a change from Canada, Brassard explained what makes Townsville such a special place to her and her family.
“As I moved across my family at the time, we were thinking just come here, play a few seasons and go back home. But as a lot of imports do, we really fell in love with the place, fell in love with the community,” she said.
“Then we reached out to the club and said, what can I do to stay here?’ And yeah, 23 years later, we're still here and we love it.”
Suzy Batkovic and Claudia Brassard lifting the WNBL Championship
The Olympian explained the community is what’s kept her in regional Queensland, and between the on-court relationships and the surrounding nature, Brassard has made Townsville home.
“We've loved the basketball community in Townsville. It's really welcoming and really supportive. We've got so many friends there and it’s a really good lifestyle in Townsville,” she said.
What stood out most was her pride for Townsville basketball. Currently the Deputy Chair on the Basketball Queensland board, she still continues to give back to the sport and the community – stating the importance of being role models in Queensland sports, as well as professional women’s sports.
“I think what the Townsville Fire and Townsville Basketball have accomplished for women's basketball is really incredible,” she said.
“The value of the club, being female role models for the North. We’re [one of] the only professional female teams in Northern Australia, they take that really seriously.”
Having been around the club for many years and coaching a handful of games last season when former head coach James Rapinett was unavailable, Brassard has become very familiar with the local core and how the team played last season.
And one of her first moves as head coach was bringing in championship-winning forward Samantha Bowman, kickstarting a new era for the Flames in 2025.
“She's obviously going to be a key focal point for us on the offence. She can score in multiple ways, we don't need to play her just in the low post,” she said.
“She's quite crafty and she's good at pace. She's good at a lot of things that we like to do, which was sort of what attracted me to her.”
With the NBL1 North season starting in May, the Flames still have plenty of time to formulate their roster.
Stay up-to-date with all the latest signings via the Roster Tracker here.
