Coaching is not something that comes naturally.
It’s not for the faint of heart, it’s not for those who like to keep their feet up and only be engaged when the ball tips.
Not even close.
As basketball season inches ever so closer to games counting in the standings, it’s been fantastic to see many players and coaches – past and present at both descriptions – involved in coaching at the USPORTS and Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association levels for the 2024-25 season.
The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association counted 21 people who have had or continue to have MWBA connections working the sidelines this season.
Whether it’s as a head coach or associate coach, they are in the game, many of them young with careers in the game if they choose to continue.
There are also a plethora of interscholastic and youth coaches across the Maritime landscape from the MWBA.
‘Any time you can go to a gymnasium on a Saturday night and watch some of our players or coaches working the sidelines, it’s fantastic,’ said MWBA commissioner, Jen McKenzie. ‘We know the work coaching staffs put into their programs. The MWBA has always encouraged our players to get involved in coaching and we’re delighted to see that unfold. Some of them will be head coaches of programs down the road and that’s incredibly exciting.’
There may be others who are wearing coaching apparel for 2024-25, so please let us know by emailing themwba@outlook.com
For now, here’s a look at the MWBA connections across the university landscape.
Former Halifax Hornets’ star Jalynn Skeir is in Canada West as an associate coach with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. Skeir was a key member of the Hornets’ 2022 Pro*Line Stadium Legacy Cup championship in the MWBA’s inaugural season.
University of New Brunswick Reds have plenty of MWBA components in Atlantic University Sport conference.
Colleen Daly and Anthony Ashe are associate coaches. Daly spent two seasons with MWBA’s Fredericton franchise and Ashe prepares for his second season on the bench with the Freeze in 2025. Madeline Belding coached Saint John’s Port City Fog since its inception three years and former Halifax Thunder player Jayda Veinot switches from star player and USPORTS player of the year to an associate coach under Erin McAleenan this season.
There are plenty of other MWBA connections in the AUS.
Parker Regan has guided the Thunder to a pair of back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024 and returns to his assistant role with the Dalhousie University Tigers. Thunder’s Karla Yepez is also in the Tigers’ den on the coaching staff. Yepez was also recently named head coach of interscholastic Halifax Grammar School.
University of Prince Edward Island Panthers have Katie Donahoe of the Miramichi Hericanes as an assistant coach and Thunder player Katie Upham has a similar role with St. Francis Xavier University X-Women in Antigonish.
Courtney Donaldson of the Lake City 56ers of Dartmouth/Cole Harbour is with Saint Mary’s University Huskies, the team she won back-to-back AUS titles with as a player. This is her first year on the coaching staff.
Haley McDonald, recently named Basketball Nova Scotia’s 2025 Canada Summer Games girls’ under-17 head coach, is an assistant coach with Acadia University Axewomen, where she was a standout USPORTS star.
Turning to the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association, there’s a plethora of coaches in the mix including all four staff members of Moncton’s Crandall University Chargers.
Head coach Allie Berry is joined by assistant coaches Jillian Smith, Leonie Elbert and Emily Briggs. Berry, Elbert and Briggs all play for the Moncton Mystics. Smith is a former head coach of the Moncton MWBA squad.
Mount St. Vincent University Mystics of Halifax have familiar ACAA faces. Veteran Mount St. Vincent head coach Mark Forward is a former head coach with the MWBA’s Halifax Hornets. He is joined by Hornets’ assistant Maia Timmons and Hornets’ player Maddy Hiscock.
University of New Brunswick at Saint John Seawolves have a new coaching staff and that includes associate coach Rachel Farwell of the Fog.
Two former teammates with the Freeze are involved with rival schools as assistant coaches.
Ashley Bawn returns with Fredericton’s St. Thomas University Tommies, where was a star player, inducted into the university’s wall of fame last spring.
Former Freeze player Torrie Janes has joined Sackville’s Mount Allison University Mounties’ coaching staff.
Speaking of the Freeze, Eva Tumwine returns to coach junior varsity at Fredericton High School with the junior varsity girls’ program.
If you know where other MWBA connections are coaching this season, please drop us a line.
– Allie Berry is one of many MWBA players who is coaching at the university level. (DWinston Photo)