Wingate’s Barbara Nelson Selected To Coach USA U16 National Team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.----Wingate University's (N.C.) Barbara Nelson was named head coach of the 2009 USA Basketball Women's U16 National Team, USA Basketball announces today. Mike Armstrong of Perry Meridian (Ind.) High School and Dorena Bingham of Team Alaska AAU will serve as assistant coaches. The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Women's Developmental National Team Committee and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.

"For the first-ever FIBA Americas U16 Championship, it is important to assemble a coaching staff with experience leading young players to success; the USA Basketball's Women's Developmental Committee has certainly done that," USA Basketball executive director Jim Tooley says. "This trio of coaches brings vast coaching experience from various levels. We look forward to great things as we head into this new international competition."

"I'm very excited about the opportunity to coach with USA Basketball," Nelson says. "When you watch the Olympics and see the pride the athletes have in representing the USA, you realize how special it is to wear the red, white and blue and travel to represent your country. I'm extremely honored and extremely humbled."

"This has to be the number one opportunity a coach can have to represent your university and also your nation," Nelson acknowledges. "Patriotic pride runs very deep in my heart and getting this opportunity to wear USA Basketball on my chest and walk into an arena as an ambassador of my country is thrilling."

The 2009 USA Basketball Women's U16 National Team will compete in the inaugural FIBA Americas U16 Championship for Women, with dates and the sites for the championship to be announced. The tournament will feature eight U16 national teams from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, with the top three finishing teams qualifying for the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship.

Trials to select the 12-member USA team will be held May 28-31 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Following trials, the Women's Developmental Committee will select the 12-member roster. The team will remain in Colorado Springs through the morning of Thursday, June 4 for training camp. The USA squad will reassemble prior to the start of the FIBA Americas U16 Championship. Players eligible for the U16 National Team must be U.S. citizens born on or after Jan. 1, 1993.

The USA Basketball Women's Development National Team Committee is chaired by Carol Callan (Women's National Team Director, USA Basketball) in a non-voting position and includes NFHS members Jill Meerman (Decatur Central High School, Ind.) and Sue Phillips (Archbishop Mitty High School, Calif.); AAU appointees Jody Patrick (Vogues AAU, Va.) and Brian Robinson (Stealers AAU, N.C.); and athlete representative Jamie Carey (head coach, Legacy High School, Colo.), a member of the 2003 USA Pan American Games Team.

Nelson is coaching her first USA Basketball team. In two seasons as head coach at Wingate University (2007-08 to present), Nelson has led the Bulldogs to a 44-18 overall record (.710 winning percentage).

Nelson's first year with the Bulldogs resulted in a 26-8 record, a South Atlantic Conference tournament title, an NCAA Division II regional tournament title, an NCAA Division II Elite Eight finish and a number 10 national ranking in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll. Wingate compiled an 18-10 ledger during the most recent 2008-09 season.

Prior to joining the Wingate family, Nelson spent 21 seasons (1986-87 through 2006-07) as the head coach at Providence Day School in Charlotte, N.C. While serving as head coach for the Chargers, she compiled a 437-176 overall record (.713 winning percentage) and earned seven North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) state championships and nine NCISAA conference titles.

In 2007, she recorded a career best 30-4 record and collected a state title and a conference championship. For her efforts, Nelson was honored with her fourth Charlotte Observer Girl's Basketball Coach of the Year award.

Additionally, Nelson coached AAU basketball for boys and girls from 1986 until 2007. She has coached the Charlotte Royals (boys), Charlotte Monarchs, Carolina Comets and N.C. Flight. She also spent two years as a floor coach for the WNBA Charlotte Sting during open and free-agent tryouts.

Nelson is a 12-year participant in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association; she was a high school All-American selection committee member in 2006-07. She has been a Nike Basketball Camp Director from 1999 to the present. The WBCA appointed her to the USA Today/ESPN Board of Coaches to vote on the NCAA Division II weekly top 25 coaches' poll in 2007-08.

Nelson is a graduate of Presbyterian College with a B.S. degree in Psychology. A four-year letter winner in basketball for the Blue Hose, Nelson earned the Bob Waters Award from her alma mater in 2008. The Waters Award is presented to graduates of Presbyterian College who have exhibited outstanding leadership and service as coaches and who personify the qualities possessed by this distinguished alumnus.