Softball/Hockey

HENLEY WINS JEFF COLLINS COACHING SCHOLARSHIP

By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy Darryl Gershman, Louisiana-Lafayette University, Curl Canada and James Carey Lauder

Mackenzie Henley is simply too busy. She really wants to start coaching high school hockey this season but with having just been announced as the coach of the U16 Smitty’s Terminators Softball team and with one year remaining on her Bachelor of Science in Biology, there just isn’t enough time.

“Maybe later,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m just so busy right now, it’s impossible to find the time.”

Last month, Henley was named one of the two winners of the Jeff Collins Memorial Coaching Award by Sport Manitoba. Collins’ expertise earned him a reputation as a coach’s coach. He served as head coach and clinician for the Legion Athletic Camps at the International Peach Garden for 32 years and was the convenor and co-meet director of the MHSAA’s provincial track and field championships from 1984 to 2001. Jeff attained his Level 3 NCCP and also worked with world-class special needs athletes. In 2003, Jeff was inducted to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

Both recipients of the award – Henley and football coach, Liam O’Brien, like Henley, a University of Winnipeg student – will receive a $500 bursary to be used toward their 2020-2021 tuition.

For Henley, the award was quite a surprise.

“I was really happy about it and very surprised that I got it,” she said. “I’ve never applied for anything like that before, but a friend I work with at softball, Hailey Unger, told me I should go after it. I’m really quite happy about it and I heard Jeff Collins was a really good coach.”

For Henley, the next year will be jam packed with softball.

“I’m working part-time at the Sport Manitoba Softball Academy,” she said. “It’s a regional skills development academy and in my first year working for it, in 2017, it just took off. The girls loved it. In my first year, I worked full-time, but this year, with school and my job with Smitty’s softball, I won’t have enough time.”

Henley, who is soon to be 22, was an outstanding hockey player as well as softball player. A great skater and outstanding playmaker, she actually started out her on-ice career as a ringette player.

“I transitioned from ringette when I was 12 or 13,” Henley said. “I skated from the time I could walk, I think. Maybe four or five. I started at Gateway and played ringette until Grade 7. I changed because I wanted to compete with the boys, but I played girls hockey with the River East Royals and then played for the Predators until Grade 10 when I started high school hockey at River East Collegiate.

“I played three years of high school hockey and then I took a year off for first-year university just to make sure I was able to handle everything. Then I joined Polar Ice in the Manitoba Women’s Junior Hockey League.”

Last year, however, was her final year of hockey – at least, for now. She

Mackenzie Henley

could be eligible to return to Polar Ice as an over-ager, but has decided that softball – she’s been part of the Smitty’s program since she was a U12 player – and school are her priorities this winter.

“This is my fifth year at U of W and I’ll be graduating with my Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology,” she said. “Then the goal is to apply for a Masters in Genetic Counselling, if not this year, the following year. Next summer, I plan to play Senior ball with Smitty’s – hard to believe I’m not a Junior anymore – but with this COVID thing still going on, it’s hard to say what’s going to happen.”