• As of  June 21, 2021
  

USA Basketball Notes

• Honors: 2009 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.
• Gold Medals: 2019 FIBA AmeriCup, 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIBA World Cups; 2012 and 2016 Olympics; 2009 World University Games; 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
• Bronze Medal: 2005 Youth Development Festival.
• International Invitationals: 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational (gold).
• Is 85-6 in USA Basketball games played.
• Named to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team on June 21, 2021.
• 2017-21 USA National Team:
  • Set to participate in the 2021 USA National Team's four-day camp in San Antonio March 30-April 2. 
  • Played against Connecticut as part of the USA's winter tour; scored six points and grabbed nine boards in helping the team post a 79-64 victory. 
  • Member of the 2019 USA AmeriCup Team that finished with a 6-0 record and the gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup in San Juan, Puerto Rico; started all six games and averaged 9.0 ppg., 7.3 rpg. and 3.0 apg.
  • Helped lead the USA to the 2018 FIBA World Cup gold medal and a perfect 6-0 slate; averaged 10.3 ppg. and a tournament ninth-best 7.3 rpg.
  • Aided the USA to a 5-0 pre-World Cup exhibition record; averaged 9.0 ppg. and 5.6 rpg.
  • Member of the USA Red Team that fell to the USA White Team 100-75 in an intrasquad exhibition during the 2018 USA World Cup Team training camp in South Carolina.
  • Participated in the winter 2018 USA camp in Columbia, South Carolina.
  • Accepted an invitation to participate in the 2017 USA Women's National Team training camp in Santa Barbara, California, but was unable to attend due to injury.
• After playing on three USA junior teams from 2005-09, was invited to attend the USA National Team’s 2009 fall training camp and was later named to the the 2010-12 USA National Team, one of just two collegiate athletes on the roster at the time. Since then, has captured three FIBA World Cup gold medals and two Olympic gold medals.
• Helped the USA post a 24-2 record in exhibition games from 2009-18.
• Averaged a tournament fifth-best 7.4 rpg. in the 2012 Olympics.
• Was the USA’s third-leading scorer (10.7 ppg.) and second-best rebounder (4.8 rpg.) at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, while playing just 16.4 minutes a game.
• Member of the 2009 USA Women's World University Games Team that posted a 7-0 record and earned the gold medal in Belgrade, Serbia.
• Member of the 2006 U18 National Team that went 4-0 to win the gold medal; set a USA U18 all-time record for rebounding (9.5 rpg.).
• Member of the 2005 Youth Development Festival Red Team that finished 3-2 and earned the bronze medal.

Professional Notes

• Drafted: No. 1 in 2010 by the Connecticut Sun; acquired by the New York Liberty on April 14, 2014; traded to the Washington Mystics on April 15, 2020.
• WNBA MVP: 2012.
• All-WNBA first team: 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016.
• All-WNBA second team: 2010, 2013, 2014.
• WNBA All-Defensive first team: 2017.
• WNBA All-Defensive second team: 2011, 2012, 2105.
• WNBA Rookie of the Year: 2010.
• WNBA All-Rookie Team: 2010.
• WNBA All-Star: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021.
• WNBA scoring champ: 2016.
• WNBA rebounding champ: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016.
• EuroLeague All-Star Game: 2011.
• Sat out the 2020 WNBA season after being medically excused due to extrinsic asthma.
• Played three seasons in China.
• Competed five seasons in Europe, including for Fenerbache (Turkey) in 2014-15; Dynamo Moscow (Russia) in 2013-14, where she helped Dynamo capture the EuroCup title; Wisla Can-Pack Krakow (Poland) in 2012-13; Galatasary (Turkey) in 2011-12; and Nadezhda (Russia) in 2010-11.
• Led the WNBA for rebounds in 2012 (10.5 rpg.), 2011 (11.0 rpg.) and 2010 (11.7 rpg.).
• Established a new league record for double-doubles with 23, eclipsing the record of 22 she set in 2010.
• Was a unanimous choice for the 2010 WNBA Rookie of the Year award; led all rookies with 15.5 ppg.
• Established a new WNBA single-season record for rebounds with 398, eclipsing Cheryl Ford’s 363 in 2006; also had a league-record 22 double-doubles (19, Natalie Williams in 2000).

Social

• Twitter: @tinacharles31
• Instagram: @tinacharles31
• Web: hopeysheart.org

College Years

• During her four years at UConn, helped the Huskies to a 146-6 record (.961), including a then-NCAA women’s basketball record streak of 78 straight victories to close out her career, captured the 2009 and 2010 NCAA titles, three Big East Conference Tournament championships, four Big East regular season crowns and advanced to the 2008 Final Four and 2007 Elite Eight.
• Ranks first among all-time UConn career leaders for points (2,346) and rebounds (1,367) and third for blocked shots (304).
• National Player of the Year honors: John R. Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, U.S. Basketball Writers Association and Associated Press (2010).
• Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2009), All-Final Four (2009, 2010) and All-Regional Team (2009, 2010).
• USBWA All-America Team (2010).
• Big East Conference Player of the Year (2010) and Freshman of the Year (2007).
• All-Big East first team and Big East All-Tournament Team (2008, 2009, 2010) and All-Big East second team (2007).
• USBWA National Freshman of the Year (2007).

Personal Notes

• Born in Flushing, New York.
• Daughter of Angella Holgate and Rawlston Charles.
• Produced a two-hour documentary Charlie's Records, which is centered around her father's record store, recording studio and influence on the sound of calypso music from Trinidad and Tobago to Brooklyn, New York. The film premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Her most recent directorial project was Game Changer, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
• 2018 recipient of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Mannie Jackson - Human Spirit Award for her off-court efforts in her community and through Hopey’s Heart Foundation.
• Donated half her WNBA salary in 2014 and 2015 to Hopey’s Heart Foundation, which provides AEDs to schools and organizations across the U.S. and is hoping to extend to all gymnasiums in which EuroLeague and EuroCup teams practice and play.
• In 2011, Charles read about the untimely passing of Fennville High School (Mich.) basketball player Wes Leonard, who died of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) at the end of one of his basketball games. Leonard could have been saved with an automated external defibrillator (AED). Moved by his tragedy, Charles donated $14,775 to the New York Department of Education and the Wes Leonard Heart Team to purchase AEDs. In 2012 Charles partnered with OmniPeace and buildOn to build a new school in Mali. She paid for the entire project, which cost about $32,000. She contributed additional efforts to charity, but changed her focus early in 2013 when her aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz passed away due to multiple organ failure. The Leonard tragedy, coupled with her aunt’s death, motivated Charles to set up a foundation in her aunt’s memory.
• Post-basketball career ambitions included becoming a forensic psychologist; wanted to be a police officer at age five and a veterinarian at 15.
• Compiled 1,750 points, 1,224 rebounds, 440 assists and 432 blocked shots in three varsity seasons at Christ the King High School (N.Y.); led her team to a pair of USA Today No. 1 final national rankings and state titles in 2005 and 2006 to go with a two-year 57-0 record.
• USA Today, McDonald's, Parade Magazine, Gatorade and SI.com National High School Player of the Year (2006).