Tempo learning through the challenges that come with tough inaugural season

Kia Nurse does not think of herself as a patient person.

Being a leader on an expansion team has helped change that.

“I have a lot more patience than I thought I did,” said the Toronto Tempo guard. “I’m not a very patient person to begin with, but when there is a lot of new, it’s a learning curve for everybody. And so it’s being patient with some of the stuff that might have just popped up.”

Now in her eighth WNBA campaign, Nurse has experienced a lot across the league, from the grind of a long season to the heartbreak of injuries.

The Canadian Olympian, who hails from Hamilton, Ont., has used those lessons with Toronto and stumbled upon situations she’d never encountered before.

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“Everything’s new across the board,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of new people to the WNBA and our organization as well, and so it’s fun to kind of be able to start from scratch and build a lot of these different cultural foundations and organizational foundations as well, and the pieces that we’re continuing to grow here with the Toronto Tempo.

“And it’s been fun to bring the WNBA to a lot of new fans and a lot of new eyes, and get more people invested in the game.”

It hasn’t been easy, though.

Toronto (11-26) was eliminated from playoff contention last week amid a 12-game losing skid.

The stretch was finally halted on Friday when the Tempo topped their expansion sisters, the Portland Fire, 82-79 in Vancouver. The team then fell 88-78 to A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in the West Coast locale on Sunday.

Toronto has been plagued by injuries all season and was left with just eight players for Sunday’s matchup with the reigning WNBA champions. That number was whittled to seven when point guard Julie Allemand hit her head on the hardwood late in the first half and exited the game.

“We played hard. And they’re exhausted. … They never gave up,” Tempo head coach Sandy Brondello said of the result. “It shows you the character of this team, the players, and the resilience that they have. And we’ve faced a lot of adversity, but that’s when your true character comes out. And I think they’ve all shown that.”

Nurse led Toronto in scoring with 19 points – one of five Toronto players to hit double digits in scoring.

Working with a decimated roster was never part of Brondello’s plan for the season.

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“We always knew this was going to be difficult as an expansion team, but when you’re trying to learn a lot about a new team without all your players available, that makes it really hard,” said the veteran coach. “But you still have to look at the positives, and we’re building something from the ground up. So that’s important for us, making sure we have a strong foundation.”

Nurse hopes seeing WNBA games live in Vancouver – and across Canada – helps coming generations of athletes.

Watching women’s professional sports grow across the country has been exciting, she said, whether it’s the WNBA’s expansion to Toronto, or the creation of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and the Northern Super League.

“In all honesty, it’s been awesome to kind of see just across the board and across Canada the excitement around women’s sports,” Nurse said. “And we didn’t really have a landscape for it three years ago. Here in Canada, there was really no existence of women’s professional leagues, and so it’s been awesome to see them kind of blossom as we’ve gone through the last couple of years.”

Getting to interact with young Canadian basketball fans has been special, she added, and something she’s cherished.

“I don’t think throughout my career I’ve really felt it or understood it until the Toronto Tempo came into existence, and I’ve been able to kind of play at home,” she said.

These are opportunities that simply didn’t exist when Nurse was a kid.

“I hope when they come to these games, the biggest thing is that they can see what they can be, and they can have a dream,” she said.

“I know a lot of us growing up were like, ‘Oh, we would love to play in the NBA.’ Because that was the only thing that we really saw. Now there’s just availability to play in the WNBA and to have an opportunity to just keep playing, whether they make it all the way to WNBA or not.”