Coaching Staff: Ben Boucher – Head Coach

Team manager: Tamara Grant

Coaching Staff: Tom Kieswetter, Amanda Finch – Head Coaches

Team manager: Tamara Grant

email – tamaramgrantgroup@gmail.com

Tom is currently retired, but was the head coach of the University of Waterloo Men’s Basketball team for 20 years. Tom was a member of the 1968-74 Warrior basketball teams during which time he was a captain and two-time OUA all-star. He was also a member of Canada’s National Basketball team which competed in the pre-Olympic tournament in Germany in 1972. Prior to coaching full-time, Tom was a high school teacher and Coach in KW. Tom is coming out of retirement to coach his granddaughter!

Amanda (Kieswetter) Finch is a lawyer at Manulife. She played basketball for the KW Girls Lightning organization throughout her childhood and coached at numerous camps. Amanda was a member of the 2000-2004 University of Waterloo Women’s basketball team during which time she was a captain and named to the OUA West All-Rookie team. Over the past few years, Amanda has loved being involved with the KWGBA- coaching her daughter’s Jr. NBA and U10 teams.

Coaching Staff: Aaron Tomlin, Mariko Yoshy – Head Coaches

Team manager: Tamara Grant

email – tamaramgrantgroup@gmail.com

Aaron has been working as a teacher for the past 10 years. Aaron is currently teaching at Jacob Hespeler S.S. and is the school’s senior boys basketball coach. In the past, Aaron has been the head coach at Huron Heights S.S.(senior boys), Waterloo C.I. (junior girls) and St. David’s C.S.S. (senior boys). Aaron has also been coaching club basketball for the past 18 years with the Waterloo Wildhawks. He has been fortunate enough to travel all across North America with the Waterloo Wildhawks U19 team, winning tournaments in Indiana, Pittsburgh, Washington, and New York state, while also capturing an OBA Division One silver medal. Through his Wildhawk experience, Aaron has also privately trained all levels of players – from beginners, to players who are currently playing professionally.

Mariko has been coaching basketball and teaching Grade 8 Math and Physical Education for the Waterloo District School Board for the past 15 years. Mariko has been involved as a player and coach with the Waterloo Wildhawk Basketball organization for 25 years. Throughout her youth, Mariko played for the Waterloo Wildhawks, MDP and JDP regional programs.  Over the years, Mariko has been the head coach and won several Division A basketball championships within the board, was the assistant coach of the U15 and U10 KWGBA club teams and has been involved with the Wildhawk house league program for several years. She is currently coaching and training the U11 KWGBA club team.

Coaching Staff:  Tierney Boucher – Head Coaches; Andrew Grant – Assistant Coach

Team manager: Tamara Grant

email – tamaramgrantgroup@gmail.com

Tierney has been teaching and coaching in Waterloo region in the high school system since 2008.   She was a head coach and assistant coach of Senior Girls and Boys basketball teams at both SJAM and BCI, as well as the Junior Girls team at BCI.  She previously was an assistant coach of Ottawa University’s Varsity Women’s team  and the head coach of the Ontario Indigenous Girls Team that participated in Duncan B.C. at Indigenous Games in 2008.  She has been part of the Jr. NBA development program and has coached the U10 and U11 Rep teams within KWGBA. Tierney grew up loving the sport of basketball, competed at many different levels, and was part of many championship teams. She played and was team captain for the Huntsville Hoyas, Huntsville Hurricanes, Toronto Weston OBA team, Ontario Provincial Team 3X, Canada’s Junior National team and at Laurentian University for five years.

Andrew has been teaching elementary aged students for just over 15 years, mostly at the grade 6 level. He currently teaches at Sandowne PS, and has run ‘travel’ basketball teams at this level for numerous years. Andrew played high school basketball at KCI, and continues to play in the KW Men’s League. He has coached rep basketball previously with the Wildhawks (u14 boys) and the former KW Lightning (u13-u16 girls).

Coaching Staff: Steve Arthur – Head Coach; Don Wales – Assistant Coach

email –  teamarthur@icloud.com

Steve is a high school science teacher with more than a decade of coaching experience at Bluevale Collegiate, including five years with the junior boys and six years with the senior boys. Steve is NCCP Level 2 trained, holds a BSc in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo and spent 10 years coaching boys rep baseball in Waterloo. He played varsity basketball in high school.

Coaching Staff: Renee McKenzie – Head Coach

email – hers.mckenzie@gmail.com

Coach McKenzie recently completed her third year of coaching for the KWGBA Wildhawks. Renee is Vice President, Information Technology at OpenText, a local Waterloo company with a big success story. She has played the game for many years throughout public school and university, and played for Team Nova Scotia at the Canada Games level. Her philosophy is simple – focus on mechanics, player development, teamwork and fun!

Coaching Staff: Chris Dissanayake – Head Coach; Ian McLean – Assistant Coach

email – kwgirlsbball@gmail.com

Coach Chris is a Family Physician who has practiced in Cambridge for the past 23 years.  He has coached various Rep Girls and Boys basketball teams for the KW Lightning and Cambridge Centaurs since 2001.  His goals are to make basketball fun for all his athletes while teaching them high level skills and having them understand sportsmanship and the social aspect of being on a Rep team.  He is really excited to coach the U19 KWGBA Phoenix this year.

Ian has led the Greater KW Chamber of Commerce as CEO since 2010. He is an active community volunteer with many  organizations. He helped to found KWGBA and has been on the Executive leading fundraising efforts and also been an assistant coach/team manager right from the start. He is excited to see the girls back on the court and looks forward to see them grow both as players and individuals.