Brent Mutis
CapU Blues sports info
Coming off a 2024-25 debut season where she led the Capilano Blues in scoring and was second in rebounds, Mia Parkin has team goals at the top of her list heading into her second year in North Vancouver.
Raising her game to give the Blues a boost next season, Parkin is playing for the Norwood Flames in the NBL1 Australia semi-professional league in her hometown of Adelaide. Competition, both from opponents and for playing time within the club, is fierce.
“(In NBL1), there are many physical players who will push you around on the court,” says Parkin, who will turn 20 in December.
Parkin started every game last season for the Blues but at Norwood, she is asked to provide energy off the bench in a reserve role. Playing alongside and against players that are as much as 10 years older than her, Parkin isn’t needed as a primary offensive option as much as she is at CapU, where she won the 2025 PACWEST Rookie of the Year Award, but she believes her experience as a first-year player with the Blues pushed her growth as a player.
“(Playing at) Capilano allowed me to guard some of the best players in the league and test my skills defensively,” she says. “This then translates back to my game in Adelaide, where I am able to play defensive roles on the court, and put pressure on highly skilled players here.”
Parkin’s presence with the Flames allows Norwood head coach Will Smith to install her when he needs specific defensive assignments, counting on her athleticism and length to defend the opposition’s tricky ballhandlers and seasoned scorers.
“We have seen Mia come back from Canada with a new confidence in her game,” says Smith. “NBL1 is a tough, physical league with a lot of national-league players. Mia's defensive ability and physical ruggedness has always been a huge asset.”
That grit and determination was evident in Parkin’s game in her rookie CapU season as the 5-foot-10 guard finished the campaign playing through an ankle injury that almost knocked her out of the PACWEST bronze-medal game but she willed her way to a near double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds to help the Blues earn a podium finish.
The Blues 2025-26 lineup will feature conference all-stars Maddy Coffin and Barcha Hnizdilova as well as veteran Teigan Manson, who plans to return after missing last season battling an injury of her own. With a couple of impact transfers coming on board and some prized rookie recruits, Parkin should be part of a rotation gives Blues head coach Chris Weimer potentially as talented and experienced a starting group as he’s ever had.
“I'm very excited to have Mia back for the upcoming season and foreseeable future,” says Weimer. “She had an outstanding rookie campaign last year and I am confident she can build off that and her experience playing in the NBL1 back home in Australia.”
As an offseason regimen, there would certainly be easier options than choosing to test her game against older, craftier and stronger players than she faces each week in the PACWEST, but it’s worth it for Parkin. Having already shown herself to be an all-star-level player in the conference, she’s planning to help CapU achieve the postseason success that has eluded them in recent years.
“Next season as a Blue, I would love to win the provincials and further, make it to the 2026 nationals,” says Parkin. “I think with the team we are building, it is something that we should have our sights set on.”
With Parkin helping set the tone, being one of the team’s leaders for the 2025-26 Blues, the bar has been set high. Her development back home will go a long way to determining whether she and her Capilano teammates can realize their goals.
