Maple Ridge honoured another of its great sports heroes on May 20, as national team lacrosse player Megan Kinna was this year’s Hometown Hero.
Kinna said it was an honour to be selected at a celebration night at Samuel Robertson Technical school.
“Thank you to the city of Maple Ridge where my lacrosse career first started and selection committee for giving me this honour,” she said. “I would have never thought when I was a kid walking around the leisure centre I would have a banner of my own hung up!”
She joins a group of storied local athletes that includes the late racer Greg Moore, baseball hall of famer Larry Walker, broadcaster Jim Robson, and Canucks West Coast Express centre Brendan Morrison.
After starting for four years with the NCAA’s Northwestern University, Kinna turned professional in the Women’s Lacrosse League. She is a six-time Team Canada player.
Kinna was a member of the 2015 U19 Canadian team that captured gold in the FIL Rathbones World Championships in Scotland. She played with the senior women in June 2022, when they took silver in the Lacrosse Women’s World Cup in Towson, USA. In July that year, she again wore the Maple Leaf at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, where Canada took gold in sixes lacrosse.
As a coach, Kinna guided the U-15 Maple Ridge Burrards girls team to a provincial championship in her first season on the sideline. She now runs Kinna’s Crew, which is a training and development program for young players.
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“The wording of the award is a bit tricky for me. I feel that the definition of a hero is someone who has saved a life or has done something heroic,” she said. “I haven’t saved any lives that I know of but I do know lacrosse has saved mine many times.
“I hope by inspiring more young kids to play this sport it helps them through their hard times too.”
The award honours dedicated athletes who have been students in Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, participated in local sports programs, and have competed internationally.