Sports

Sarah Chan, the Toronto Raptors’ dynamic new talent seeker

Published

5 years ago

February 7, 2020

Toronto Raptors fans may never have heard of one of the newest talent seekers shaping the basketball team’s future, because her work largely takes place on the other side of the world. But as the manager of scouting in Africa, Sarah Chan’s mission is to unearth the next Pascal Siakam.

When Chan, from South Sudan, volunteered to help out at a basketball camp in Kenya in 2017, she had no idea she was about to meet an NBA team executive named Masai Ujiri, and that it would lead to her dream job. Ujiri took quick notice of this well-spoken 6-foot-3 woman with obvious high-level basketball training, as she coached and related so authentically with the teens at his Giants of Africa camp.

The Nigerian-raised Raptors president eventually asked Chan about her background. Her life story involved leaving war-stricken Sudan for Kenya, finding basketball, and playing it in the United States and around the world. It included a tryout with a WNBA team and a master’s degree in international relations.

After their 2017 conversation, Ujiri was so impressed, he hired Chan to help organize, coach and scout talent for the growing series of Giants of Africa camps he holds each summer across the continent as part of the foundation he started in 2003. This past fall, Ujiri promoted her to a newly created position. Now she also co-ordinates the Raptors’ three other scouts in Africa to scour the continent to find talent.

“It’s so exciting for me, because if I go to Guinea, Botswana, Senegal or Angola – the least-likely places that people expect – and I find a kid that needs that opportunity, there’s nothing more gratifying than that,” Chan, 33, said recently in an interview at the Raptors Toronto practice facility, where she was meeting with front-office staff. “The trajectory of that player’s life will change, and in turn that player’s community, country and Africa all rise.”

The Raptors pride themselves on having a league-leading presence in Africa.

“There are many Pascals out there, they just need the opportunity,” said Chan, referring to Toronto’s Cameroon-born all-star. “That’s why it’s a huge responsibility to set the stage right for them. Using basketball as a tool to change lives can be an incredible thing.”

Chan, who speaks English, Swahili, Arabic and Dinka, sees herself in the young people she scouts. She grew up in the 1990s during a time of intense conflict between the north and south in Sudan. She, her parents, two brothers and sister lived among large groups of families. Often there were upward of 35 inhabiting a small mud-and-brick homestead, with latrines outside and compound walls surrounding them. She babysat younger kids. Her family often woke in the night to the harsh lights of pickup trucks outside, and men banging on their gates, demanding her father come outside.

“If you’re going to take a family down, you first try to take out the head of the household – that’s what they did to the people from the south,” recalled Chan, who said her father was taken many times, but survived. “My mom learned to mediate. I remember us kids would be hiding under our blankets. She would stand between the door and the family and say – with all kindness, strength and courage – ‘he is not here.’”

Chan’s family eventually got a precious opportunity – academic sponsorship for their parents to study theology at an evangelical university in Kenya. They moved in August of 1998, when Chan was 12. The scholarship included the girls’ schooling, too. Chan’s parents saved up so they could afford to include the two teenage boys as well, saving them from being enlisted as young soldiers.

The move to Nairobi was not smooth. Her father was detained at the airport for a long period before being released to go join the family in Kenya. They arrived just days before the U.S. embassy there was bombed, an event that killed 213 people.

They settled into a multicultural community in Nairobi, and her parents did odd jobs on campus to make money while studying. They cut grass, broke up stones to use as construction materials, and worked as night security. Their mother insisted they interact with other kids so they could practise their English.

Chan experienced sports for the first time in 2004 when she got to Laiser Hill High School, an international school where joining a team was mandatory for all students. Chan, a tall girl, tried and hated swimming and tennis, before eventually trying basketball. The game was a perfect fit for her and she improved quickly. Any time she heard bad news about the raging civil war back home in South Sudan, Chan would use basketball as a distraction.

A talented boy from her high school earned a basketball scholarship to Union University, in Jackson, Tenn. Once there, he told Union women’s coach Mark Campbell about the tall and gifted Chan. After watching her on video, Campbell offered her a scholarship to his Division II program – one with a history of recruiting African centres.

“It was going to be my first time out of Africa, my first time going anywhere on my own,” Chan said. “I remember my dad saying ‘My daughter, I want you to never change for anybody. When you go there, you’re representing you, our family, our nation and Africa.’”

So in 2007, Chan went to the United States to play for the Lady Bulldogs at this private evangelical Christian university, where she studied history and political science. She experienced for the first time how it felt to be stared at for being a tall woman with dark skin. School and basketball pushed the limits of her body and mind.

“She’s the fastest player I ever had, north-south, no doubt, and at that height, that’s really saying something,” Campbell said. “She had good hands, she was really instinctual and she used her quickness.”

In her four seasons at Union, playing power forward and centre, she tallied 1,892 points and 1,112 rebounds. She was an NAIA All-American and helped spearhead two Division II national titles.

“There is an awesome thing about the kids I’ve had from Africa on my teams when it comes to respect for authority, value of education and a very strong family mindset,” Campbell said. “Most choose to stay in America and make money to send to their families back home. Sarah wanted to take the education she acquired here and put it to work back home, making a difference in Africa.”

Chan got a tryout for the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, but she didn’t make the team. She played professionally for a while in Europe and then across Africa, too. Troubling reports about the continuing conflict in South Sudan had Chan longing to become an agent of change on her home continent.

So she returned to Nairobi to get a master’s degree at United States International University Africa, majoring in peace and conflict studies. She also played basketball for the university and competed in two FIBA Africa Women’s Club Championships in 2015 and 2017. At the 2015 edition, she was the top scorer and rebounder and made the all-tournament team.

As she was finishing her studies in 2017, Chan was eager to be a difference-maker. That’s when she heard about the local Giants of Africa (GOA) camp where she would eventually met Ujiri. That day, she was just hoping to volunteer with the kids. She called up someone she knew from school who was helping organizing it, Abel Nson, (who as it turns out is a scout and GOA camp organizer who worked for Ujiri).

“I just thought it would be an opportunity for me to help people and learn something,” Chan said.

Chan noticed lots of cameras documenting the camp but didn’t realize they were there to report on this passion project by Ujiri, the first African general manager of a North American sports club. She didn’t know who Ujiri was.

“From the first day, there was no … showboating, just her pure interactions with the boys and the girls,” Ujiri said. “You saw it from the first minute, and I noticed but I didn’t say anything to her at first.”

Ujiri followed Chan’s career thereafter, and noticed her strong eye for young talent. She impressed him with her diplomacy while working with African politicians, venue operators, and sports organizations to create opportunities for players to showcase their basketball skills. She has built a robust network of contacts within Africa.

Ujiri credits Chan with convincing him to hold GOA camps this past summer in Juba, South Sudan and Mogadishu, Somalia – places affected by great conflict. The inclusion of girls, and helping them experience basketball – especially those at risk of being teen brides – is close to Chan’s heart and Ujiri’s, too. Chan also has her own foundation that helps women and girls in war-torn countries.

“Sarah has an eye for basketball talent, which for me selfishly that’s the first thing I’m looking for in a scout. I’m not just going to hire someone because they are nice,” Ujiri said. “Juba and Mogadishu, those are not easy places to hold camps, but we have to visit those places and help girls there, too, and she was instrumental in taking us there. Those to me are the powerful things we also have to do.”

Ujiri invited Chan – an engaging public speaker – to share her story at two recent events in Toronto. She joined Ujiri on stage at a GOA Youth Summit for Toronto high schoolers, and at a panel for the group Women In Sports Events.

Emotional GOA videos played at those events show Chan in a vocal leadership role with male and female campers. She is coaching girls in Mogadishu, wearing a hijab just as they are and yelling out to them. ‘‘Be proud to be girls. We love you. You are so respected and so valued.” She tells the boys in South Sudan to look around the court and consider all their fellow players as brothers:.”I don’t care what tribe they’re from and nobody should.”

Patrick Engelbrecht, the Raptors director of global scouting and international affairs, said watching Chan with campers in South Sudan was just one example of her value in Africa. She noticed things in the way the players communicated with one another that represented their tribal differences – things the Raptors coaches at the camp might not have. The players see Chan playing one-on-one with the male coaches (“she’s one of us,” Engelbrecht says), and they learn about respect for women.

“Sarah is a child of the soil of East Africa,” Engelbrecht said. “She knows what those kids have gone through, especially those displaced because of civil war. She is extremely passionate about making the kids feel special. So, when she spoke to the boys at camp in South Sudan, many of us there coaching felt tears come to our eyes. When she talks to young African players, it’s like she is talking to her younger self.”

Engelbrecht, who was born in South Africa, describes the challenges of scouting in Africa, where most players don’t have the access to gyms, equipment, coaching and programs that they would in North America. Basketball’s popularity is just budding. A scout there has to help create opportunities for young players to show their skills, then imagine what that player could become someday if given the right resources.

“You have to have relationships, and Sarah does because she’s played in Africa and people respect her, and they give her information,” Engelbrecht said. “She is really special. She knows what questions to ask to learn about a kid’s background and his desire to play – like maybe he took 10 buses and borrowed money to get to the practice, but he didn’t have any shoes to play in.”

Chan is on the lookout for specific things when she’s meeting young African players.

“First thing I look at is his intelligence, and character,” Chan said. “And then the talent is the last thing and within that talent, how athletic is he? How strong is he, how is his vertical, how is his work ethic, how would he fit with the Raptors? I watch closely when they’re warming up because that’s when most people think it doesn’t matter, but it really does matter, because you’re preparing. How does he go to war?”

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NHL roundup: Hurricanes beat Flyers 6-4 for seventh straight win

Published

9 hours ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Martin Necas scored a go-ahead goal with 29 seconds left and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for the Hurricanes, who also got goals from Jack Roslovic, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson and Jackson Blake. Seth Jarvis added an empty-net goal in the final seconds.

Necas typically saves his game-winners for overtime, with nine in his career, but he was able to take care of business in regulation with his team-best seventh goal of the season.

Travis Konecny scored two goals and had two assists for the Flyers. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett also scored for Philadelphia.

Aleksei Kolosov made 28 saves for the Flyers, who trailed 2-1, 3-1 and 4-3 but kept coming back. Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov struggled in net allowing four goals on just 16 shots.

Elsewhere in the NHL on Tuesday:

—

SABRES 5 SENATORS 1

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Bowen Byram and Tage Thompson scored 16 seconds apart to open the third period, and Buffalo snapped a three-game skid with a win over Ottawa.

Byram scored twice, JJ Peterka had two goals and an assist and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 37 saves.

Ridly Greig converted his own rebound in cutting Buffalo’s lead to 2-1 with 7:31 left in the second period. Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in dropping to 1-4 in his past five starts.

Buffalo went up 3-1 on Byram’s second goal 21 seconds into the third period. The defenceman’s shot from inside the blue line sneaked through Ullmark, with the puck rolling down the goalie’s pad, dropping into the crease and trickling across the line. Thompson scored when he crashed the net, was knocked over by defender Jake Sanderson and was lying in the crease when Alex Tuch’s shot went in off his shoulder.

—

MAPLE LEAFS 4 BRUINS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season in Toronto’s 4-0 victory over Boston.

Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists as Toronto connected three times on the power play. William Nylander and Matthew Knies added a goal and an assist each. Mitch Marner had two assists of his own. Steven Lorentz rounded out the scoring into the empty net.

The Leafs played without captain Auston Matthews, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

Jeremy Swayman made 23 stops for Boston, which was coming off consecutive weekend shutouts of the Philadelphia Flyers and Seattle Kraken.

Toronto’s porous 31st-ranked power play scored for the second time in as many games at 8:44 of the second period when Rielly fired through a screen. Nylander banked in his team-leading 10th goal of the season on another man advantage 1:14 later for a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins entered the game 8-0-0 in the regular season against their Atlantic Division rival dating back to Jan. 14, 2023.

—

FLAMES 3 CANADIENS 2 (OT)

MONTREAL (AP) — Matt Coronato scored twice as Calgary came back to defeat Montreal in overtime.

Coronato tied the game with 2:46 remaining in regulation when he cruised into the slot and went off the post and in. He then buried the winning goal seven seconds into the extra period.

Connor Zary also scored for Calgary, which won its second game in seven outings. Dustin Wolf stopped 21 shots.

Joel Armia — with a short-handed goal — and Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal (4-7-2). Armia also provided an assist, while Sam Montembeault made 32 saves as the Canadiens’ losing streak extended to four games.

Zary opened the scoring with his third 4:20 into the second period when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired a shot past Montembeault.

Gallagher then slipped the puck between Wolf’s pads at 16:23 to level the score with his fifth of the season.

—

BLUES 3 LIGHTNING 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Alexey Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored to help St. Louis beat Tampa Bay 3-2.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history, just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151.

Nick Perbix and Victor Hedman scored, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves for the Lightning who have lost three straight games.

Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season 8:51 into the third period to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead.

Toropchenko scored his first goal of the season with 1:35 remaining in the second period to put St. Louis ahead 2-1 after Sundqvist tied the game with his first of the season 7:47 into the period.

—

ISLANDERS 4 PENGUINS 3 (SO)

NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored the only goal in a shootout and New York rallied past Pittsburgh 4-3.

New York goalie Ilya Sorokin denied Rickard Rakell, Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang in the shootout and finished with 32 saves. Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist for the Islanders, who trailed 3-1 midway through the third period.

Simon Holmstrom and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in the third for New York. Horvat had two assists.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to lead Pittsburgh. Crosby got his 598th career goal, and Michael Bunting also scored. Rakell added two assists.

Alex Nedeljkovich stopped 23 shots for the Penguins, who have lost seven of nine. They won their previous two following a six-game skid.

—

KINGS 5 WILD 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Trevor Lewis scored twice, Kevin Fiala added another on the power play and Los Angeles beat Minnesota 5-1.

Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield also scored for Los Angeles, which was playing the second night of a back-to-back after a 3-0 win in Nashville a night earlier. David Rittich made 23 saves for the Kings.

Fiala, who was traded to Los Angeles in 2022 by Minnesota for a first-round pick draft pick and defenceman Brock Faber, scored his seventh goal of the season. He now has three goals and six assists in his last seven games against the Wild.

Minnesota, which had won three in a row, opened the scoring in the second period on Zach Bogosian’s first goal of the season. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots for the Wild.

—

JETS 3 UTAH 0

WINNIPEG, Man. (AP) — Nino Niederreiter scored twice in his 900th NHL career game and Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves to help Winnipeg defeat Utah 3-0.

It was Hellebuyck’s second shutout of the season and 39th of this career.

Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets. Adam Lowry assisted on both goals by Niederreiter.

Utah ended a run of picking up points in three consecutive games (1-0-2).

Karel Vejmelka stopped 25 shots for Utah in its second stop on a four-game road trip.

Jets winger Kyle Connor had his franchise-record, season-opening points streak end at 12 games.

—

AVALANCHE 6 KRAKEN 3

DENVER (AP) — Arturri Lehkonen scored the go-ahead goal on a power play in his season debut and Nathan MacKinnon had five assists as Colorado beat Seattle 6-3.

Mikko Rantanen added two goals for the Avalanche, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Ivan Ivan, Nikolai Kovalenko and Chris Wagner also scored for Colorado.

Cale Makar had two assists but the star defenceman barely played in the second half of the game and appeared to be slowed by an apparent injury during a brief shift.

MacKinnon and Makar extended their season-opening point streaks to 13 games.

Lehkonen played for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery.

Jared McCann, Jaden Schwartz and Brandon Montour scored for the Kraken.

—

CANUCKS 5 DUCKS 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brock Boeser, Danton Heinen and Kiefer Sherwood had a goal and an assist apiece, and Quinn Hughes recorded his 300th career assist in Vancouver’s victory over Anaheim.

Jake DeBrusk and Elias Pettersson also scored and Hughes had three assists for the Canucks, who have won six of eight. Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in Vancouver’s sixth consecutive win over the Ducks.

Olen Zellweger scored a power-play goal early in the first period for Anaheim, which has lost seven of nine. Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko took shots from teammates again after the morning skate, and he could return to practice this week. The Southern California native and 2023-24 Vezina Trophy finalist hasn’t played this season due to a knee injury incurred late last season.

—

SHARKS 2 BLUE JACKETS 1 (OT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Alex Wennberg scored 3:11 into overtime and San Jose celebrated the return of No. 1 overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini with a win over Columbus.

Defenceman Jack Thompson scored his first career goal for the Sharks (4-8-2), who entered the night with the worst record in the NHL. San Jose has won four of five.

Celebrini, the top pick in the 2024 NHL draft, missed 12 games with a hip injury he sustained in the season opener Oct. 10 — an injury first incurred during the pre-season. Celebrini didn’t score and missed a shot early in overtime.

San Jose goalie Vitek Vanacek was fantastic in net, making 49 saves.

Blue Jackets right wing Kirill Marchenko scored for the second consecutive game. Columbus (5-6-1) has lost three straight.

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Canada’s Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Routliffe pick up second win at WTA Finals

Published

1 day ago

November 5, 2024

Anne Joseph

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.

The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.

The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.

Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.

Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.

The final is scheduled for Saturday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.

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Allen nets shutout as Devils burn Oilers 3-0

Published

2 days ago

November 4, 2024

Anne Joseph

EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.

Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.

The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.

Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.

TAKEAWAYS

Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.

Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.

KEY MOMENT

New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.

KEY RETURN?

Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.

OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN

The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.

The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.

UP NEXT

Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.

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