TORONTO (April. 28, 2025) – The Canada Basketball Foundation is pleased to announce Robyn Boulanger and Danielle LeDrew as the 2025 recipients of the Mike MacKay Transformational Coaching Award.

The Mike MacKay Transformational Coaching Award aims to promote and strengthen basketball leadership and culture while celebrating diverse and inclusive leaders in delivering positive sports experiences. An equity, diversity, and inclusion scorecard evaluates applications based on the coach’s efforts to address systemic barriers to sport and recreation.

“It’s super exciting to support quality coaches and individuals like Robyn and Danielle. They are tremendous role models and each exemplify the qualities of a transformational coach — a coach who inspires, challenges and believes in their athletes, and treats them as an individual,” said Mike MacKay, Performance Manager, Women's High Performance.

Robyn and Danielle will each receive a $2,500 bursary for their dedication to basketball and coaching leadership.

“There’s a need for transformational coaches and coaches who have the ability to change lives. I was very fortunate to have parents and coaches that demonstrated these qualities and this award celebrates and honours transformational coaches in this country,” said MacKay.

Boulanger has immediately immersed herself in the world of coaching upon completion of a decorated career as a student-athlete at the University of Winnipeg in 2023. She rejoined her alma mater the following season as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball team, while also serving as head coach for Basketball Manitoba at the Canada Basketball National Championships for the last two years and founding Zaagi’idiwin Sport Performance, a basketball training program for Indigenous and non-Indigenous athletes. 

“Receiving this award is an incredible honour, as it recognizes the importance of Indigenous female leadership in basketball and the impact of culturally relevant coaching,” said Boulanger. “Indigenous representation in sport is vital for creating spaces where young female athletes feel seen, valued, and empowered to succeed. This grant will allow me to create more opportunities for Indigenous youth and young female basketball players by integrating traditional knowledge, ensuring the game continues to grow in a meaningful and inclusive way.”

As a student-athlete, Boulanger suited up for the Wesmen from 2017-23, and was a member of a Wesmen program that won silver at both the Canada West Championship and U SPORTS Final 8 in 2021-22.

Boulanger was recently accepted into the University of Victoria’s Masters of Coaching Studies, where she hopes to continue to grow as a high-performance coach and pursue a future in coaching. She is currently in training for NCCP Train 2 Compete and expects to be certified by the end of April after completing coursework with Canada Basketball. 

“As an Indigenous coach, I truly believe basketball is medicine. My goal is to inspire the next generation of female athletes by providing a supportive and inclusive environment where they can reach their full potential as players and young acting members of the community,” said Boulanger.

You name it, she’s coached it. LeDrew has been actively engaged in the Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfld., sports community for the past number of years. A physical education teacher and owner of a sports-based business, LeDrew is a leader in both basketball and sport as a coach and teacher for youth.

“I am beyond honoured to receive this award. As a female physical education teacher, head coach and sports-based business owner, I feel that it’s important to ensure children of all ages recognize the invaluable place of females in sports in every role, and to recognize females in leadership roles as empathic and caring but also knowledgeable and strong,” said LeDrew.

“I often use my various roles to foster the importance of females in sports and empower young females to recognize their worth, value and competence. I hope to continue to build their self-esteem, their confidence and their athletic ability.”

In addition to her work on the court, LeDrew also helps out in a number of other sports, volunteering her time to coach ball hockey, track and field, volleyball and baseball. In her work with Central Athletics, LeDrew strives to waive fees for athletes who face financial barriers and notes that receiving this honorarium will help ensure more athletes will be able to include and access programming.

In addition to the Mike MacKay Transformational Coaching Award, LeDrew has been nominated for each the RBC Women of Influence in 2025 and Grand Falls-Windsor Citizen of the Year in 2022.

This award was inspired by James and Ruth MacKay, parents of Mike MacKay, who exemplified the qualities of transformational parenting and all the transformational coaches who’ve coached and worked with Mike throughout his coaching journey.

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.  Of the annual awards, one (1) will be specifically given to a female-identified coach working with female athletes. 

The award is distributed through the Canada Basketball Foundation™, a registered charitable organization dedicated to unifying Canada as a basketball nation by supporting safe, equitable, and inclusive basketball programming. Working directly with Canada Basketball, the Canada Basketball Foundation aims to remove access barriers in community organizations that focus on delivering programs related to coaching and officiating, leadership and skill development, and serving equity-deserving youth groups across Canada.

For more information on the Canada Basketball Foundation™ and to donate to help support the organization’s mission to foster safe, diverse, equitable and inclusive basketball opportunities for coaches across Canada, click here.