Kayla Alexander

Some other highlights included enjoying the shade of a Baobab tree, which is over 400 years old. I also drank juice made from its fruit, and ate Yassa fish—highly recommend! Finally, I climbed 214 steps to the top of the African Renaissance Monument, where it felt like I could see the entire city.

Day two in Dakar, Senegal was exhilarating! It consisted of a sports clinic, as well as Right to Play announcing their partnership with Senegal. There was also much excitement around Dakar being the first African country to host a Youth Olympic Games, which will take place in 2022. Additionally, there was a ceremony celebrating the signing of MOU.

I, along with the COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) and Canada Basketball visited the SEED Basketball Academy in Dakar. Our visit to their campus began with meeting the coaches. You could hear their thirst for knowledge in the questions they were asking. They were passionate about what they do and wanted to equip their young athletes with everything they needed to be successful.

To think that I have now been inducted into the town of Milton’s Walk of Fame is both an incredible honour and also a bit of a shock. I am honored that my name was even considered for this incredible distinction and I have been incredibly fortunate, but I feel like I’m not done. There is so much I have yet to do, and goals on my list I have yet to reach.

After he gave us our wet suit, snorkels and flippers, we jumped into the water. The first sea creature I saw everywhere  was jellyfish! So, obviously I - and the family I was on tour with - started freaking out! It turns out that these jelly fish (which were a beautiful purple color and looked so graceful and soft in the water) were called moon jellyfish. Although they can and do sting humans (it feels like a mosquito bite or small zap), they're not poisonous. Of course, I did not learn this until later in the day, so whenever I saw a large group of them during the actual tour, I…

As I was leaving the botanical gardens, I noticed a tiny garden of poppies. Growing up, I’ve always worn the pins on Veterans Day and have seen pictures of poppies, but I don’t recall ever seeing a poppy in real life. So, obviously I snapped some pictures! This little garden was called The Legacy Garden, with a small plaque in front that said the following…

If you were to look at my phone, you would probably find a good 500 pictures purely of nature; plants, trees, flowers, leaves, ponds, the ocean and green sceneries. I am obsessed! I feel close to God in many instances, but when I am consumed by nature, surrounded by it, observing it, sitting or walking in it silently, admiring its beauty, listening to the quiver of the leaves in the wind, the birds chirping, the crashing of the waves, or a disturbance in the bushes - just me and my thoughts - that’s when I always feel engulfed by Him.

Over the next hour or so, I became well aquatinted with Cody, Alex and Cheryl. They were all super friendly, kind, and made the entire experience a lot of fun! Not only will they take your picture, but they will also give you ideas about how to pose in the most realistic location so that you appear as if you are part of the art. They also have an interactive app that I recommend you download called Art Vo. Through the app, there are certain paintings that move, allowing you to create a movie within the painting. Super cool…

I will never forget the feeling I had over a decade ago when I first walked the streets of Paris as a teenager. The bustling roads, full of cars and pedestrians of varying races; the architecture, each building a giant standing piece of art. The Seine running through the city (I am drawn to water), and the parks, how trees, plants, and the grass contrasted with the concrete jungle that gave us shelter and food. I was drawn to this city, it was mesmerizing, a new experience yet I felt at home here. I could see myself living my daily life within the streets of Paris. Well, my first night exploring Melbourne on my own, that familiar feeling came back, I felt at home, like I belonged here.

When I was a young kid, even as a teenager planning out my life, I never imagined I would be living the life I currently have now. Every dream I had as a child, God has surpassed in ways I never thought possible - hence, why I always live by the mantra ‘Dream Big’. All the dreams I had for my life were so small (not in a bad way) compared to how God has carved out my life. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of hard work, sweat, tears, sacrifice, blood, more tears and frustration were a part of the journey. However, I am so fortunate and thankful that I, at this moment and time in my life, have a job (if you can even call it that) that I absolutely love!  Some key reflections…

At first, it seemed like the sun had no intentions of setting. It descended the night sky quite slowly. However, once it hit the sea line, it seemed as if the sun was in a hurry to disappear. It was so cool to watch the sun, this bright white light in the sky, gradually change to yellow and then a bright orange while it was ducking beneath the sea line for the night. I think my favorite part might have been how the sky changed after the sun had vanished. It was like God had taken His water color paint set out and was using the sky as His canvas. It was beautiful! He’s painted how many hundreds of millions of sunsets? Yet they always seem to capture our eye, and never look the same!

What immediately caught my attention was the contrast between the blue water, smooth brown sand and the red rocks that formed a wall along the shore.  It was so pretty!

First stop was the Spring Gully Lookout. Less than a 10 minute drive away, I was able to get a pretty nice view of some of the surrounding land and wineries in the area. I do appreciate the variation in the land, vegetation and views that Australia has to offer. Being on this hill by myself was so serene, I felt like I had all this land to myself.

The second thing I noticed was the texture of the ground as I walked closer to the lake. It didn’t feel like sand, and the hard crunch under my feet reminded me of winters spent trekking through hardened, packed snow.  Except, it obviously wasn’t snow – it was salt. In some of the photos I took you can see a faint pink color but…

We were also exposed to the Corpse flower, yes, you read that correctly, the Corpse flower. It doesn’t look like a flower in my opinion, more like a giant fruit. It may not be the most vibrant or prettiest flower around (in its current state pictured above) but it certainly gets your attention. Not only is it a fairly large flower, but it has a terrible stench. I wonder if maybe that is where it gets its name?

Driving around lost allowed us to see beautiful mountain views of the ocean, take some fun pictures and we even encountered a blue-tongued lizard! When we finally reached our destination, thanks to a friendly older Australian couple, I was blown away. First, there were so many kangaroos! Male, female, joeys, just hopping around freely in their environment, it was so cool to see!

My last day in Vancouver consisted of the press release of a new court and the Raptors game against the Portland Trailblazers.

Saturday I didn’t have community events of my own, so I decided I would make my way to the PNE Grounds for the unveiling of The Nash Family Court. I also wanted to increase my chances of possibly meeting Canadian Legend Steve Nash, after all he is the one who put Canadian basketball on the map!

Friday was all about NBA Crossover, and exploring the connection of basketball, music, fashion, gaming and art… just a few of my favorite things all wrapped up in one!

NBA Canada partnered with Victory to transform The Permanent (an event venue) into this incredible space that explored basketball, art, fashion, gaming and music all in one place. Hence the name NBA Crossover, and it was executed beautifully.

I loved this co-branded event because it combines athletics (basketball and dance), academics and technology. It was super inclusive but more importantly sends an important message that not only can anyone play basketball but anyone, including girls can code! Just redefining stereotypes one kid at a time.

The Procreate app brush allows you to create multiple fine tip pens, sketching pencils, and painting brushes from watercolor to acrylic. You can create the illusion of luminance, brightness and shadows. The elements brush allows you to create water, clouds, flames and crystals. The list goes on and the possibilities are endless. I have a feeling that once I go digital, it will be hard to go back to paper.

A dream of mine has been to play for Canada on the Senior Women’s National Team - a dream that was finally realized, only to be taken away by injury a few days later.


Later this month Canada will compete in Tenerife, Spain at the FIBA World Cup. I had my eyes set on making the roster to help Canada compete for a spot on the podium.

While there I had to make a lot of adjustments. The time change was definitely the hardest, 14 hour difference! It took my body 2 weeks to properly adjust to the time change, way longer than I expected! Language barriers are nothing new to me, as I had plenty of experience with this in Russia, however, in Russia the letters were similar to the English alphabet. In Korea, its completely different, it was symbols, and complicated symbols at that! My apartment also didn't have…

Throughout the day, these young athletes were put through an experience similar to an NBA combine. It began with individual assessments of their athletic abilities, followed by skills work and teaching different offensive and defensive concepts as well as game break downs. It concluded with games and competitive play.

On September 19th, I had the privilege of being invited to the 2017 WNBA Inspiring Women Luncheon presented by ESPN. Every year, they put on this luncheon where people of all backgrounds in the athletics, entertainment and business industry come together to recognize incredible women.

My sister wanted to do XPLOR because there was a zip-line. Me and heights are not the greatest of friends, but since I was under the impression it was one zip-line, I told myself to suck it up and do it for my sister. Well, I clearly didn’t read the fine print because it wasn’t one zip-line but seven! Once you did one zip-line, you had to compete the other six it to get back on land. My sister was aware of this and didn’t feel the need to inform me. I prayed so much and thanked God profusely when …

When we arrived, they gave us a free lunch at a hotel located 1600 meters across from Mont-Saint-Michel which had a breath taking view. As soon as I finished my lunch, I headed straight for the Mont.

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