When Kia Nurse was growing up in Hamilton, the closest professional basketball she could see in person was the Toronto Raptors. Even though superstar Vince Carter was her favorite player, she didn't see herself in him.

She hopes to change that feeling among young Canadian girls.

Nurse will lead the Los Angeles Sparks against the Seattle Storm at Rogers Place in Edmonton in a WNBA exhibition game on May 4. She said Tuesday the pre-season event is a real opportunity to inspire the next generation of Canadian talent.

“It might not be me they resonate with, there are 20 other people in the gym doing what I do and they might resonate with one of them and that makes further progress the game, right?” » Nurse said from his home in Los Angeles. “That's when you have the opportunity as a young kid to say 'that's my new favorite player.'

“For me, it was Maya Moore. I saw her on TV playing for UConn and I was like, “Oh, I want to be like her,” and look where I am now.

The exhibition in Edmonton will be WNBA Canada's second game after the Chicago Sky beat a sold-out Scotiabank Arena in Toronto 82-74 on May 13.

Nurse said she looks forward to making a direct impact on young fans through the upcoming game.

“If someone follows in my footsteps and makes it to professional sport, great. If they don't and they play in college, great. If they don't and they only play in high school, that's fine,” Nurse said. “All the things I learned about basketball are the same things they'll learn no matter what. or their level.

“I’m grateful to have the opportunity to introduce our sport to beginners and ask them to pick up a ball.”

Nurse was traded from Seattle to the Sparks in January. 31, but she said there was no ill will towards her former Storm teammates.

“No matter what team I play on, it’s an opportunity to play in the WNBA,” Nurse said. “There are only 144 of these opportunities, so I’m going to take every one of them and be grateful for it.”

Her sister Tamika Nurse, who played NCAA basketball in the United States before getting into broadcasting, said holding the exhibition in Edmonton could have even more impact than the WNBA preseason game last year in southern Ontario.

“I think Edmonton doesn't often get to see a lot of women's basketball where Toronto has the luxury of doing so,” she said, noting that Aaliyah Edwards of Kingston, Ont., led the UConn Huskies past Toronto Metropolitan University 111-34 in December. . 20. “I think Edmonton itself is actually a really big hotbed of women's basketball and I think they're hungry to be able to see and be in the stands.”

Although the Nurse family is originally from Hamilton, they have deep roots in Edmonton. Kia and Tamika both played for Canada's women's national team, which often trains in Alberta's capital, and their brother Darnell Nurse is a defenseman for the NHL Oilers.

The WNBA Canada game in Edmonton was originally scheduled for Sunday, May 5, but had to be moved a day earlier in case the Oilers and Los Angeles Kings playoff series extended to seven games. Kia Nurse said she was actually happy to have this change.

“Saturdays are more fun than Sundays, in my opinion,” Kia, the youngest of the Nurse siblings, said with a laugh. “What I'm really excited about is we've missed each other the last couple of years because he'll be in the playoffs and I'll still end up in training camp.

“Now my parents are coming here (to Los Angeles) and so I guess we can all have dinner together and then he's going to play his games and we're going to go watch them and then come back to Edmonton so I have a full week extra time with my family.”