CMU Blazers Athletics has announced the hiring of Sharlene Harding to the Women's Basketball program for the upcoming 2024-25 MCAC and NIAC seasons. Harding grew up in the greater Toronto area where she developed into a budding dual-sport basketball and soccer star before an international career in coaching. A Winnipeg resident since 2021, she has already planted firm roots in the local basketball community.
Having coached at various levels from high school up to Olympic level over the past thirty years, Harding is now settling down in Winnipeg after an international military career that has opened doors for playing and coaching experience across the world. A competitor herself in three CISM World Military Games, along with twelve World Military Championships, Harding started her elite-level play at Queen's University Canada while taking undergraduate studies in arts, and continues her higher-education today pursuing a Post Graduate Certificate in High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership through the University of British Columbia. With too many coaching and playing experiences in both basketball and soccer to name here, it's no wonder the Blazers' new head coach is also completing her NCCP Training to Compete certification, after already being certified at the Training to Train level.
Harding is highly-motivated and a great team leader, which will no doubt positively contribute to success on and off the court for the Blazers women's basketball team, who have seen their share of success over the last six seasons following the incredible program-building work of former head coach Joe DiCurzio, who was recently announced as an inductee into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum. Blazers Athletics Director of Athletics Cara Isaak was quick to show her excitement over the program's new hire stating "we are thrilled that Sharlene is joining the Blazers! Her resume speaks for itself - she's coached all over the world and played for some amazing programs. But on top of that, I'm most excited about her gifts of leadership, team-building, and recruiting that she will be sharing with our student-athletes. Her commitment to each athlete's success as a whole person was immediately evident to me and she's about to start her Masters of High Performance Coaching through UBC, so she just never stops adding to her coaching repertoire. The Blazers are very lucky to welcome her to our program!"
Excited to make her mark both North of the border in the local MCAC, as well as in the Northern states in NIAC competition, Sharlene is ready to start training with the team as the squad comes together over the summer ahead of the season. After a run of five consecutive MCAC championships ended this past February, the Blazers will look to get back on top with Harding at the helm. While conference play doesn't begin until November, the team's exhibition schedule will take them to Alberta for CCAA competition in September, as well as games in North Dakota in October to prepare for the regular season.
If you are interested in studying and playing at CMU next fall, feel free to reach out to Sharlene directly at sharding
Source: https://blazers.cmu.ca/womens-basketball-head-coach-harding-announcement