They trickled into the gym one by one in the quiet of a Thursday morning, bringing with them different backgrounds, varied experiences and disparate expectations.

Some of them are barely more than kids starting a promising journey to fame and riches; some of them are relatively grizzled veterans seeking to improve the game they love in a country they love.

Young. Old. Established. Neophytes.

They all want the same thing as the job of restoring some lustre to Canada’s international basketball reputation began in earnest at the Air Canada Centre practice gym, the training camp base for the national team.

“To make Canada better,” said Toronto’s Junior Cadougan. “To make a name for our country.”

It’s step one in a long journey.

The players arrived from their pre-camp physicals to find 38-year-old two-time MVP Steve Nash putting an 11-year-old and a nine-year-old through some shooting drills before he moved on to more serious pursuits with a handful of young Canadian point guards.

Some arrived looking to establish themselves as integral parts of the future of a promising program; some arrived to make sure their legacy included helping Canada take its next step up the global ladder.

They are all in the week-long initial training camp with one goal and it was an intriguing moment in the evolution of the program; it will be an interesting summer for the team, a summer of significance but also a summer of transition.

“You see plenty of opportunities happening,” said Cadougan, the Toronto native trying to play for the senior national team for the first time. “You see guys getting to the NBA, guys playing ball overseas and doing great, making a good name for Canada. Now everyone sees and they want to follow and do the right thing.”

The program will eventually belong to the kids; to Anthony Bennett, to Kelly Olynyk, to Andrew Wiggins. But this year, when qualifying for the 2014 FIBA World Cup is of paramount importance, it is a summer when youth must meld with experience, when old must meet new. And teach it.

“The thing that impresses me the most is that you can talk to them,” said Carl English, the team’s elder statesman, a veteran with an extensive international and European background so vital to imparting wisdom to eager young teammates. “They sign big contracts and it comes with a lot of swagger but they’re so humble, they’ll listen and learn and that’s the first step in creating a team and creating chemistry and creating a winning team.”

But winning teams are built primarily on talent and experience and desire. This group, for the first time in more than a decade, has that.

“There was a gap for generation and now we’re back where it means something to play for Canada,” said English. “It comes from being proud of where you’re from. I’ve always played and I never played for scoring rights, or contracts, I’ve played because I’m proud of being Canadian.”

That pride was missing, as English said, from a lost generation of Canadian talent. For untold reasons — the profile of the program, its chances at success, politics, depth of talent — the doldrums set in.

But now it’s as if a group of talented young players have decided that it’s time Canada became a global player.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, collectively, the young guys and the old guys,” said Mississauga’s Andrew Nicholson. “Together we’re going to work hard as a team and see what we can do.

“To me, basketball is basketball and whenever there’s an opportunity to play, whether it be for your organization or your country, you should.”

The sense of optimism, and desire to wear a Maple Leaf proudly, puts Canada now at the same level as so many, more successful countries that have no problem getting their top talent to play.

“I see it more in Spain, there’s so much pride to play for your country,” said English, who played with Estudiantes last season.

“And it’s not just there, it’s Argentina, it’s Brazil, it’s Spain, it’s Lithuania; everybody plays for their country and traditionally in the past it hasn’t happened here in Canada.

“Now it is.”

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For multiple generations.

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