Ducharme to coach Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball

Wheelchair Basketball Canada has announced Marc Antoine Ducharme as the head coach of the Canadian senior women’s national wheelchair basketball team.

Ducharme takes on the head coaching duties as the Canadian women look to earn a berth to next year’s World Championships at the America’s Cup qualifier in Cali, Colombia in August.

“Marc Antoine is an experienced coach and a great communicator with a proven track record of success at the domestic level in Canada,” said Wheelchair Basketball Canada High Performance Director Jeff Dunbrack. “As a coach and a builder he has been a driving force behind Quebec’s emergence as one the most distinguished wheelchair basketball programmes in the country. We are confident he can bring that same passion and success to the national team programme and empower Team Canada to maximise its strengths and achieve results on the international stage.”

Durcharme said: “It is with great pleasure that I have accepted the role to lead the Canadian Senior Women’s National Team. This is an opportunity that does not come along every day and I intend to lead the team to success. This year's goal is to qualify the team for the 2018 World Championship in Germany at the qualification tournament of the Americas in Colombia at the end of August. The collective effort of our team and the intensity of our training are two things that I do not compromise on and I am sure that this group of athletes has these types of qualities and has what it takes to get back to the top of the podium and qualify for the upcoming World Championship.”

Ducharme has been a part of the wheelchair basketball community in Canada for many years. An active player and coach, he is also the general manager of Parasports Quebec and has been with the organisation for more than a decade. In his role as a coach, Ducharme has worked with countless players at all levels throughout his coaching career.

Ducharme has previously represented Canada as an assistant coach with the senior men’s national team from 2006-2007. In that role he was behind the bench as Team Canada claimed the gold medal at the World Championships in 2006 and the silver medal at the 2007 Parapan American Games.

At the national level, he has coached and spearheaded the development of some of Canada’s finest athletes with the junior and women’s provincial team programmes in Quebec. He began coaching with the provincial women’s team in 2004. Ducharme recently led the junior team to a fourth consecutive gold medal at the 2015 Canada Games and he remains undefeated in two appearances as the head coach of Quebec at the Canada Games in 2011 and 2015.

He was also an assistant coach with the Quebec side that won the gold medal in 2007 and he competed twice as an athlete for Team Quebec at the Canada Games, winning both silver and gold medals in 1999 and 2003, respectively.