Congratulations to the four individuals named to the Field Hockey Canada Hall of Fame Sunday November 18, 2018! Each one of you has made to a great contribution to field hockey in Canada. We would like to extend a special congratulations to three of the four who represent Ontario; Ontarians, Louis Mendonca (pictured in the far right with the U23 Women's Champions) - Builder; Sheila Forshaw - Athlete; Margaret Lanning - Builder, and Kathy Broderick - Builder.

We took some time to connect with one of the inductees, Louis Mendonca, who has been an Ontario Provincial Coach since 1984 and continues to coach in Ontario, most recently the U23 Women’s team who won Gold at the National Championships in July 2018 in Toronto, Ontario.

Q: What does it mean to you to be inducted to the Field Hockey Canada Hall of Fame?

Louis: It is a great honour to be recognized for all the hard work. However, it also gives me an opportunity to thank all the people that help me become the coach and person I am today.

Q: What lessons have you learned from building and growing the sport of field hockey in Ontario and Canada?

Louis: Amateur Sport throughout the country if you look at from a project and financial point of view, you would classify it as mission impossible. Field Hockey and the other sports are rich in humane resources and if you empower, motivate and allow people to lead the results will be outstanding.

Volunteers don’t look for market value compensation, but if you appreciate and respect them, they are willing to go above and beyond to help the sport grow at any level.

Q: Going forward do you have any goals as a builder in field hockey you would like to achieve?

Louis: Coaching is still a passion; however, I would like to take on more of a teacher/mentorship role for younger coaches. I am happy to partner with Field Hockey Canada and Field Hockey Ontario to grow the number of qualified coaches in the province and country.  If I work with a team, I may coach 18 to 20 players. If I mentored 5 coaches, I will be able to affect 100 athletes.

Congrats again to all the inductees and we look forward to all of your continued success and contributions to field hockey in Canada.