USA Women's National Team Scheduled To Kick-Off Training In Nation's Capitol Sept. 30 " Oct. 5

-- Tickets Now Available For USA's Oct. 4 Training Session, Scrimmage, Autograph Session --

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Sept. 11, 2009

The USA Basketball Women's National Team will begin training for next year's FIBA World Championship with a camp at American University's Bender Arena in Washington, D.C., Sept. 30-Oct. 5. The USA's training camp will be highlighted by the 2009 USA Basketball Women's National Team Fall Showcase at 12:00 p.m. (EDT) on Sunday, Oct. 4.

The USA Showcase will include team drills, an intrasquad scrimmage, a question and answer session with USA and University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma and a post-practice autograph session with selected players.

Tickets for the USA Basketball Women's National Team 2009 Fall Showcase are $5.00 and available by calling 202-885-TIXX or online at www.AUeagles.com. Children six and under will be admitted free of charge.

Following the six-day domestic training camp, selected players will travel to Ekaterinburg, Russia, where the USA will compete in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational. In addition to the Russian professional team UMMC Ekaterinburg, also competing in the tournament will be Euroleague professional teams MKB Euroleasing Sopron from Hungary and USK Praha from the Czech Republic.

Athletes expected to attend the USA team training camp include 2009-12 USA National Team members and Olympic gold medalists Seimone Augustus (Minnesota Lynx), Sue Bird (Seattle Storm), Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever), Sylvia Fowles (Chicago Sky), Kara Lawson (Sacramento Monarchs), Candace Parker (Los Angeles Sparks), Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury) and Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury). Additional athletes will be added to the training camp roster at a later date. Augustus and Lawson are injured, however, both are expected to attend the training camp. Players involved in the WNBA Finals will not attend training camp.

The U.S. will hold practices at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) at Bender Arena on Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2 and 5, and will practice at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) on Oct. 3 at a site TBD. USA team practices are open to credentialed personnel only.

In the past dozen years, the highly successful USA Basketball Women's National Team program, ranked No. 1 in the world by FIBA, has posted a 63-1 slate in major international competitions, winning four consecutive Olympic gold medals (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008), two FIBA World Championship golds (1998, 2002), one FIBA World Championship bronze medal (2006) and one FIBA Americas Championship gold medal (2007).

The USA Basketball Women's National Team will compete in the 2010 FIBA World Championship (Sept. 23 " Oct. 3 in the Czech Republic); if necessary the 2011 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament (dates and site TBD); and if the USA qualifies, the 2012 Summer Olympic Games (July 26-Aug. 12 in London, England), as well as additional USA training camps and exhibition games.