The Maritime Women’s Basketball Association has always pursued consistency and sustainability.
Many of the eight teams have had the same team leaders since the league spawned in 2022.
There has been a major change with one of the league’s foundation franchises, but that consistency and sustainability the league seeks, is in good hands.
Long-time Halifax Hornets founder, general manager and coach Mark Forward stepped aside from his team following a third-place finish at the PRO·LINE Legacy Cup Final Four last June in Fredericton.
Forward, who found the franchise with Janice King, made it his off-season mission to find someone who could take the Hornet reins without skipping a beat.
He found that person and the MWBA is more than happy to welcome Kenny Edison to the fold.
‘I am very familiar with the MWBA and was so excited to see the league get off the ground in our region,’ said Edison. ‘As a coach of high school girls’ and club basketball, I often remind my players about the opportunities that exist for them, but also for them to get out and support the MWBA initiative, the people behind it and of course, the athletes themselves. Players and coaches can learn so much just watching the MWBA.’
Edison is certainly no stranger to basketball in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
He has spent a lifetime in the game and the connections are remarkable.
Growing up in Dartmouth, he played at the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association level with Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro and Halifax-based Technical University of Nova Scotia, where he was actually coached by Forward.
Edison jokes that neither program still exists, but he learned a ton about the game and fell in love with coaching.
He would coach at the ACAA level for two seasons, took a hiatus and returned to the court when two of his three children started playing basketball.
Edison has spent over two decades at the youth level and is preparing for his fourth season at the helm of the varsity girls’ Bay View High Sharks in Upper Tantallon. He coached his daughter, Emily, with the Sharks and will also be watching her suit up with the ACAA’s Mount St. Vincent University Mystics once she recovers from a torn ACL/meniscus injury.
The Mystics, by the way, are coached by Forward, showing how small the basketball world actually is.
A self-described high energy person, Edison is excited about diving into the deep end of the MWBA.
His plan is to reach out to some veteran players and begin the process of preparation for 2027.
The Hornets won the inaugural PRO·LINE Legacy Cup in 2022 and Edison wants to see his team get back in the winner’s circle.
‘I am a results-oriented person and I’ve spent my entire career leading teams whether as a coach or in business,’ said Edison, a consultant for Mariner Innovations. ‘I am a big believer in focusing on conditions that drive desired outcomes. For me, it is all about creating a ‘line-up to get in,’ environment in everything I do. For the Hornets and the MWBA, this means getting the community even more involved than they are today, whether as a player, fan, sponsor or those that want to directly support the team.’
Edison believes the eventual Hornets’ lineup will see and hear a new face, but there will be correlations between his personality and that of the departed Forward.
‘I truly feel Mark and I are similar in our ways, so it will be important for me to meet as many of the Hornets and MWBA people as soon as I can, Edison said. ‘I want them to know the right person is picking things up where Mark left off.’
With the remarkable support from his wife, Jenny, Edison is preparing for a busy MWBA off-season.
That includes becoming familiar with bylaws, getting to know the executive members and team personnel.
His fingerprints are about to be all over the Hornets’ hive.
It will be a family endeavour, too, something the MWBA shouts from the rooftops.
‘When it comes to basketball, everything I have ever done and everything I will do is all about the kids, the athletes, the players,’ he said. ‘Being so active in basketball allowed me to spend far more time with my kids over the years. I have three children, two that play and one competitive dancer. Even my dancer spent a lot of time around the game, sitting on the bench at games, scorekeeping and other roles. Being a coach’s child can be challenging for them at times, but the extra time together was worth it. Now that I no longer coach them, the timing with this MWBA opportunity just felt perfect.’
Let the buzz of a new era begin with the Hornets.
– Kenny Edison has taken over operations for one of the league’s founding teams.
