Canadian 3x3 basketball star Paige Crozon is built for balance and being the best

As five-year old Poppy cheers for her mother from the stands, Paige Crozon gets a pass from a teammate, whips past an opponent and sinks a three.

Canada's 3x3 women's basketball team is blazing ahead and is looking to secure a place on the podium. Crozon, at age 30, is a vet on the 3x3 circuit and so is her daughter. They've been a part of the team since Poppy was a few months old. 

This team, consisting of Crozon, Kacie Bosch and twins Katherine and Michelle Plouffe and coached by Kim Gaucher, has already created quite a buzz on the scene. An unfortunate rule from the International basketball Federation (FIBA) prevented them from attending the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — at the time Gaucher was playing on the Canadian women's senior team. So they regrouped and set their sights on Paris. 

Ahead of the Olympics, I had a chat with Crozon about the growth of women's basketball in Canada, the strong squad she's on, her ability to balance being a single mom, her full-time work with Living Skies Indigenous Basketball League ,and being an ambassador for the growing game. If that sounds like a lot to manage, it is. She is balancing learning, winning and parenting at the same time. 

Crozon speaks with me so easily and from the moment we start chatting on the phone her humility and drive to constantly help others in her community astounds me. From the jump, she proudly tells me about growing up in Humboldt, Sask., where both her parents are from farming communities.

WATCH: Olympic basketball hopeful's daughter is along for the ride:

"[My parents] just always had the mentality of like, helping your neighbour, not for any kind of exchange, but just for the sake of if your neighbour needs help, that's what you do," she says.

Crozon