GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence women's basketball team has been selected to represent the United States at the FISU America Games this upcoming fall, which will take place Oct. 14-26 in Merida, Mexico.

The FISU America Games are a multi-sport event sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). Alternating with the Summer and Winter World University Games, which invite all the countries of the world for the biennial events, the FISU America Games are a regional event similar to the Pan-American Games for FISU member-countries of North and South America held in even-numbered years. The 2022 FISU America Games will be the second iteration of the games. The Games will have USA Team representation in up to 15 sports against 20-25 participating countries in Central, North and South America.

"It couldn't be any bigger for our program," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "It's the biggest stage we'll have. Being able to represent your country is an incredible honor and just an incredible opportunity. You can't overhype that. It's just a big and exciting situation for us."

Typically a high-major NCAA Division I team is selected to represent the country in the games. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games, which typically take place in the summer, were moved to October, which interferes with the Division I schedule. So Team USA started looking at NAIA programs and eventually selected the University of Providence. The competition will take place over the University's fall break, so the team won't miss much, if any, class time.

"After a little bit of discussion and talk we obviously decided we would love to represent the United States," Himmelberg said. "It was a no-brainer."

The team and coaching staff is both honored and excited to have the ability to be able to represent their country in these multinational games. As participants, they will be able to watch other sports compete in the games and will be able to take part in the closing ceremonies. During their downtime the team is planning on participating in a service project as well.

"We want to handle ourselves with class all the way through," Himmelberg said. "We want to represent our country with dignity and class. A lot of that will tie into how we want to represent the University, but we want to make sure that we do all the little things right. How do we act on the court? How do we act in the athlete's village? We have a really good group and they know how to act and do those things. We're going to make sure we do the little things right."

The basketball competition will begin on Oct. 21.