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Doug paints a rosier picture for the previously-fledgling group both from an on-the-floor results perspective and surprisingly from a financial perspective as well.

Canada basketball gaining world recognition; Men's, women's teams off to worlds in 2010, junior programs start to pick up momentum

National programs pay dividends

Summer results for Canada's national basketball programs:

SENIOR MEN: Finished fourth at FIBA Americas qualification tournament, qualified for 2010 world championships. Returning to major international competition for first time since 2002.

SENIOR WOMEN: Finished third at FIBA Americas qualification tournament, qualifying for 2010 world championships. Will try to improve on ninth-place finish at 2006 world championships.

UNDER-19 MEN: Finished seventh at world championships.

UNDER-19 WOMEN: Finished fourth at world championships.

UNDER-16 MEN: Finished third at FIBA Americas qualification tournament, qualified for inaugural world championships in 2010.

UNDER-16 WOMEN: Finished second at FIBA Americas qualification tournament, qualified for inaugural world championships in 2010.

The trip has been long and at times painful, fraught with financial peril, petty jealousies, turf wars and goals that often seemed at crossed purposes.

But as Canada Basketball puts the lid on an extraordinarily successful summer for both genders and at all ages, the goal seems common now, the victories shared, the future brighter than it's been in years.

The hard journey has paid dividends.

When the senior women's team beat Cuba in overtime recently to earn a berth in the 2010 world championships, it continued to validate a process that sees the sport's governing body now developing programs now, and not just teams.

Coupled with the success of the senior men's team – back in the worlds next year for the first time since 2002 – and the emergence of the under-19 junior programs as international factors (the women were fourth this summer, the men seventh) Canada is re-emerging, if not as a force, at least as a factor globally.

"We used to occasionally see that we'd put all our money into a senior team and they'd go and do well, for a quadrennial," said senior women's coach Allison McNeill. "And then you have no development and you're back right where you started.

"I think we're finally investing in development and investing in senior teams and we're getting some results." That investment, a conscious effort by the overseers of the sport to instill some continuity to the game across Canada, has not been easy.

The basketball world in this country is relatively small and insular and oh so protective of its turf. There were decades-old issues that had to be resolved – officials in one region didn't trust others, there was little leadership or foresight at the national level – and the game was a mess at the boardroom level.

But by tying together disparate groups, and showing them that young Canadian teams could succeed and players could grow with the programs, something unusual happened: The program was inclusive, teams won and people got along.

"And as people begin to see the value of this kind of thing, I think they'll become more and more enthusiastic about supporting it," said Wayne Parrish, Canada Basketball's chief executive officer, who was able to coax, cajole and convince everyone to work to a common goal. "The real key about the family thing is there's not four different teams (operating independently), there's one program." The on-court success has been undeniable. Teenagers now see the junior program as something to aspire to, the juniors see the senior team as something they'd like to be a part of. It can't do anything but bring much-needed continuity and growth to the game."

"There's no way you can have any continuity in the program if you don't have every single aspect of it working together," said senior men's head coach Leo Rautins. "And it has to even go beyond the (under-16) cadet, junior, development and senior. It's also got to include the CP programs (the group's Centre for Performance initiative that identifies talent at a young age) around the country because if everybody's not on the same page, you're not feeding anything."

But the care and feeding requires as much financial support as anything and in the cutthroat world of finding corporate partners, success on the court was a must. When Parrish tries to sell his game this winter, the big selling point to companies has to be the ability for them to reach several teams, several age groups and a litany of young players who now see the national programs in a winning light.

Canada Basketball operated in the black in its latest fiscal year and although there is still debt, the money picture looks at least less dim.