The Mike MacKay Transformational Coaching Award recognizes outstanding Canadian coaches for their dedication and coaching leadership while developing competent, connected, competitive, confident future leaders with character.
Two recipients will be selected annually, each receiving a $2,500 bursary, with one of the recipients being a female-identified coach working with female athletes.
Former Maritime Women’s Basketball Association player Jalynn Skeir was one of the inaugural recipients of the MacKay award. Skeir, who won a Pro*Line Stadium Series Legacy Cup with the Halifax Hornets in 2022, is now a full-time assistant coach with University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, working with head coach Isabel Ormond.
Ashley Hoitink of Manitoba was the other recipient.
“Too often we get caught up in the idea that sport is only about winning,” said Mackay, Canada Basketball’s Performance Director, Women’s High Performance. “With this award, I want to celebrate coaches who change people’s lives for the good by positively influencing their communities and society. While the sport of basketball can ignite ambition by bringing diverse groups together to work towards a shared goal, it is transformational coaches that create the learning environment where this can truly occur.”
Interested applicants can apply by submitting a virtual nomination and two written reference letters of support (one of which is a former or current athlete) before the Nov. 18 application deadline. To be eligible, nominees must be at least 18 years of age, a resident of Canada (of at least 12 months), have started their basketball coaching pathway and will be completing or have completed at least one NCCP basketball training course, and must have coached for at least one year.
Established last year, the MacKay award recognizes coaches who inspire, are positive role models within their communities, and challenge players to think, while ensuring each athlete is treated as an individual. Canada Basketball celebrates diverse and inclusive leaders who deliver positive sports experiences. Applications are evaluated and prioritized using an equity, diversity, and inclusion scorecard based on the coach’s efforts to address systemic barriers to sport and recreation.
The MacKay award is a tribute to James and Ruth MacKay, parents of Mike. Their exemplary parenting and the influence of all the transformational coaches who’ve worked with Mike inspired this award.
The award is distributed through Canada Basketball as the organization continues to unify Canada as a basketball nation by supporting safe, equitable, and inclusive basketball programming. As the National Sporting Organization for the sport of basketball in Canada, Canada Basketball aims to remove access barriers in community organizations focused on delivering programs related to coaching and officiating, leadership and skill development, and serving equity-deserving youth groups across Canada.
For further questions or inquiries about the award, applicants are encouraged to visit basketball.ca.
– From Canada Basketball (Photo of Jalynn Skeir by Canada Basketball)