When Tasia McKenna’s basketball-playing career had finished, a piece of her identity felt like it was being taken along with it. After spending her life practicing, training and playing the game, after graduating from university it appeared that chapter had come to a close. Though done lacing up her own shoes, McKenna soon realized she wasn’t ready to give up her love of sport. So she didn’t.  

“You don't have to finish [being involved in the sport you love,” McKenna said. “Whether it's your basketball, soccer, gymnastics, whatever, you can stay involved.”

In the past 12 years since McKenna ended her playing career when she graduated from Lakehead University, she has worked to show other athletes, especially female athletes, that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing and that there are ways to stay involved with sport permanently.

Over that time, McKenna has worked with Basketball Nova Scotia and Canada Basketball in coaching capacities. She’s coached at the high school and university level in Nova Scotia, served as a mentor for female and Black and Indigenous coaches, and currently works with Canadian Women & Sport. When the opportunity arose to get involved with the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association, McKenna jumped at it, taking on the role of league commissioner.

“I always say, I wish this was around when I was a current player, or when I had just finished playing,” McKenna said. “I really do.”

After two years of planning and preparation (during a pandemic, no less), the Maritime Women’s Basketball Association is set to take flight this weekend in Fredericton, New Brunswick with six teams representing teams across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick hitting the court at Leo Hayes High School.

An idea first tossed around during a zoom call for local coaches featuring a Q&A session with former Senior Women’s National Team head coach Lisa Thomaidis in the early days of the pandemic quickly became a fully formed plan under the direction of McKenna and MWBA founder and Basketball New Brunswick president Brad Janes.

“Brad is very much a visionary and I think [the call] led to, ‘Okay, well, let's see if we can make something happen,’” McKenna said.

McKenna and Janes released a 30-second promotional video for the amateur league on YouTube on January 21, 2021, outlining the parameters of the league and its six teams. A day later, the two were fielding calls for radio and television interviews, as well as receiving offers from members of the community wanting to get involved in helping to get the league off the ground.

“Through that moment, we had people raising their hands saying, ‘How can we help you? I don't care what it looks like. If you need me to sweep the floor, if you need me to be a secretary, I'm raising my hand. Tell me where you need me and let's make that happen,’” McKenna said. “That's very typical of the Maritimes.”

The MWBA will feature six teams from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and McKenna is confident that Prince Edward Island will join the mix in seasons to come. The league will have four weekends of play, every other weekend, with playoffs taking place at St. Mary’s University in Halifax in June. Games will be open for fans to attend, as well as livestreamed on YouTube.

McKenna is thrilled for current and former U Sports athletes alike to have a league at home where they will be able to continue playing. She’s also excited to think about the built-in mentorship that current U Sports athletes will receive as they play alongside accomplished former players with wisdom to share.

“I think so often there is a thought of, I cannot have a family and have a career, [and continue playing the sport I love], and I think this is opening up lines of communication, even just the visual concept of like, oh, okay, when I’m done playing, I can actually continue playing,” she said. “When I’m done with my career, I can keep playing here, and I can have my family, and be exactly the person I want to be without needing to get rid of a piece of my identity when I’m not ready. I'm really interested to see the dynamic between the athletes that have families that will be showing up to play with their sons and daughters, and whomever is sitting in the stands, cheering them on.”

In addition to providing an avenue for athletes to continue playing, the MWBA is also committed to creating a safe and welcoming space for everyone involved.

“I’m really proud that our league stands on four, arguably five, key pillars around Black Lives Matter, Anti-Indigenous racism, specifically towards Indigenous women who are more, more often than not missing and murdered compared to any other demographic of woman in the country,” McKenna said. “[We’re committed to being] a safe place for any LGBTQ2S+ individual, whether they are an athlete, a coach, a player, a fan, an official, and then also stopping violence against women, because we know that that has increased quite drastically because of COVID and being stuck in own homes. When I think about the women that are involved in this league at every level, probably more often than not, someone or someone very close to them is impacted by one or more of those specific pillars and in turn, that also impacts mental health.”

Supporting MWBA athletes off of the court, as well as when they’re playing was one of the biggest contributing factors for McKenna when it came to putting on the commissioner’s hat.

“I think that would be one of many reasons, but certainly a big reason why I said, ‘Yeah, I want to help’ because this is a place where I believe that there's going to be a safe haven for many athletes that might not have felt that they were supported from the top,” she said.

For anyone interested in getting involved, whether it’s as a player, fan or anything in between McKenna wants you to know that the MWBA is for you.

“I'm hoping that I can be a leader, a leader that's still learning, of course, but someone that can welcome them in and say, ‘You're welcome here,’” she said. “You're welcome to play here. You're welcome to be a fan here, to coach here. And we're going to support you and find ways to support you.”