Kendra Heil: The Simcoe Magpie
- Nov 4, 2016
- 3 min read
“Footy is so complex. It moves every which way and there are so many players on the field that you have to account for, different shapes and sizes, there’s so much room to run in. It’s always transforming.”
There’s nothing remarkable about these words. The speaker clearly has an innate passion for and understanding of Aussie Rules, but people like that are common any way you look at it.
The only thing that catches the ear is that this fluent footy lingo has a Canadian accent wrapped around it.
The Collingwood Football Club is a long way from the wild country in Simcoe, Ontario where Magpie free agent Kendra Heil grew up. And it’s a testament to her passion and determination that she has come so far. “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life,” says the 28-year old ahead of the first ever AFL Women’s pre-season.
Sport has been in Heil’s life from a young age: she first pulled on a pair of soccer boots at the age of four and began playing rugby with her sister in high school and then into university.
“I loved it, but I was too small,” she recalls. But was there a sport where Heil could use her pace, physicality and not be constrained by her size?
“My personal trainer at the time said if I tried out for this new sport he would give me a couple of free sessions. And I went – and I loved it!”
Reflecting on the beginning of her Australian Rules career at the Hamilton Wildcats, Heil says her eventual pilgrimage Down Under was “almost fate”.
“Ever since I was a little girl I was obsessed with Australia but I didn’t even realise it. I had a lot of stuffed animals like kangaroos, I just didn’t know where they were from.”
By 2013, Heil had finished her University degree and rolled the dice by coming out to Australia on a Working Visa to follow her passion with the full support of her family. As a player, Heil’s most acclaimed assets are her professionalism and determination to push herself when the going gets tough. Upon arrival at Premier Division club the Eastern Devils, both kicked in.
“I loved arriving at a club and being the worst player,” she admits matter-of-factly. “That way, I had lots of room to get better.”
And get better she did. In 2015, after an outstanding season combining tagging roles with rebounding off half-back, Kendra Heil was the joint Best & Fairest at the Devils, sharing the award with Lou Wotton, who was the second of three Devils to join Collingwood as a free agent along with Sophie Casey.
“[Devils’ coach Brendan] Major always jokes that I’m not actually fit but I can be wheezing and still keep running which is why my fourth quarters are usually my best.”
Already flying ahead of her wildest expectations, Heil hit the ground running in the Devils’ 2016 pre-season training… and then stopped suddenly.
“I was sprinting to get a ball that was bouncing towards me and it bounced up at the last minute so I decelerated and stopped and I hit a pothole. My heel went back further and I hyperextended my knee straight back.”
Heil had ruptured her left anterior cruciate ligament. In a split second, she had gone from a box-seat draftee to the back of the queue.
Her tenacity unbowed, Heil’s rehabilitation progressed without complications and she was a passionate supporter for her teammates both at training and on game day throughout the season. She nominated for the draft, having given herself the best chance that a foreign player with a knee reconstruction could hold out for. But on October 12, the decision was out of her hands.
Heil was at work painting a house as she listened to the live broadcast. She wasn’t expecting to get drafted… but that didn’t make the reading of 145 names across three hours any easier.
“I was painting woodwork, so I had to be really precise, and my hands were shaking,” she recalls.
It was a long two weeks as Heil held out every prayer that any club would take her as one of their three free agents. Although Collingwood coach Wayne Siekman had confided in her that she was a “highly unlikely” draftee, Heil was at the front of the Pies’ deck for free agency. On October 26, the blessing broke: the long-shot from Canada who had gotten by on both brains and sheer bloody-mindedness was an AFL player.
“I feel good,” she says quietly. “Really good.”
The craziest part is behind her. Now is the time for Kendra Heil to do what she does best: chase her passion.
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