“Nothing fazes her anymore.” It is not often that one head coach says something so bold about their own assistant coach. However, this is how the epic story of one of the best Canadian basketball coaches, Lisa Thomaidis, began. The Paris Olympics will be welcoming quite a few debuting nations. One of them is the German women’s team, which has qualified for the event for the very first time. Leading the crew of some impeccable basketball players is Thomaidis.

The Canada-born basketball aficionado has experienced many ups and downs in her personal and professional life. However, through her resilience, she has come to the Olympic stage with Germany, proving her excellence in the sport. Her journey was full of invisibility until she turned the tide to become one of the best coaches that Canada has ever seen. Hence, with the event just a couple of weeks away, let us learn more about who this 51-year-old Canadian Coach is.

Looking into Lisa Thomaidis’ career

Born on July 23, 1972, in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, Lisa Thomaidis comes from a Canadian-Greek heritage. Her mother Sandra, who is a Canadian, was a music teacher who played piano and ukulele. Her father, Christos, is from Greece. He was a school custodian in Toronto. He moved to Dundas to first try his hands at a taxi business but later chose to go with a restaurant. While the family is not big on sports, the talented youngster found herself in a group of athletic girls. Consequently, she became a blend of academics and sports. The group of girls played soccer, volleyball, and basketball for their school. Thomaidis ended up being ranked third in the Nationals.

Her basketball career took a flight when she relocated to Hamilton, Ontario to study kinesiology at McMaster University. There, she joined the University’s women’s basketball team. Interestingly, Kia Nurse’s mother, one of the WNBA stars who will be leading the Canadian National Basketball team in the Paris Olympics, was a teammate to Lisa Thomaidis at McMaster. Theresa Burns, another great, was her head coach in Toronto. Talking about that group, Lisa told Sports Net, “It was a really solid crew. I just lucked into being on a team of some very strong, athletic, driven women.”

As a collegiate player, Lisa Thomaidis became 2x Conference All-Star in her five seasons with the university. After graduating, she joined her head coach Burns’ coaching staff. However, she got an opportunity to play overseas, and she jumped at it. The 6-ft-2 player moved to Greece to play for the Apollon Ptolemaidas in 1996. However, her journey as a professional basketball player soon ended after a knee injury.

She returned to her hometown and after considering suggestions from Burns and others; she chose to stay connected to the sport and take up a head coaching job.

One of the greatest head coaches in the making

At the age of just 26, Lisa Thomaidis joined the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon as the head coach. While already late to grab the opportunity, the resilient basketball player still submitted her thin resume, which barely showed a decade of playing experience. Still, she was selected and signed a 3-year contract of $27,000 per year. However, what she had also chosen was a broken program that had faced defeats at every other turn. Still, for her, it was an opportunity to prove herself despite being young and inexperienced.

Over time, Lisa Thomaidis turned the Huskies around into a powerhouse in women’s basketball. They made 12 of 13 USports Final Eight competitions and won the same in 2013 and 2020. The U of S also has seven conference titles under Lisa’s guidance. On a personal level, she has been named Canada West Coach of the Year a total of six times. She is 5x Colb McEwon Trophy and 2x Canadian Interuniversity Sport Coach of the Year (National COY.) She has also swept the 2016 CAAWS Women of Influence Award.

Internationally, her Canadian team won the silver medal in the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Women. Next year, the team finished fifth. In 2015, she led her team to the gold medal in the Pan American Games. Lisa Thomaidis’ team ended up in the sixth rank in the 2016 Rio Olympics and grabbed gold in the 2017 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. She joined the National Team of Germany in 2023 and will now be leading Germany into its very first Olympics.

Lisa Thomaidis’ personal life

While the head coach’s professional life saw a lot of upturns, her personal life became non-existent. However, as Dan Hurley had also pointed out, that’s what being a good coach can do at times. The 2x Canada’s Coach of the Year could barely find time for her family. She was stuck in the loop of coaching young athletes at the University of Saskatchewan and in the summer, guiding a team on the international waters.

Furthermore, her father was diagnosed with cancer. The Florina, Greece-born passed away in October 2019 after a long battle with the deadly condition. Just four months after the head coach returned from Belgium, her mother also passed away. She, too, was battling cancer like her husband. About her mother, Lisa Thomaidis said, “My Mom’s mission in life was to make people feel special and included. She loved people and loved helping them. She will always be the person I admire and look up to the most.”

Unfortunately, her parents are no longer there to see their daughter lead a country to its Olympics debut. However, Lisa Thomaidis has learned how to compartmentalize everything. Still, while her parents will not be there to cheer on her team, along with the strong support of her brother and amazing WNBA players like Satou Sabally, Nyara Sabally, and Leonie Fiebich, she will prove her potential once again.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.