Tessa Mackechnie

Outaouais Field Hockey Club from 1971 – 1997

The Outaouais Field Hockey Club in 1971 was for me an oasis of friendship - Dutch, English, German, South African, Jamaican, Irish, and Scottish, immigrants like myself, and a few Canadians, shared a common joy in field hockey. (I did not know that field hockey was played in Canada and had left my hockey stick and bag in Scotland - a worse wrench than leaving my family!) This joy in being part of a competing team spilled into social events nurturing long-term friendships, now of almost fifty years' duration. Outaouais FC also encouraged sports development in the boarder community. My first experience in coaching juniors was at Earl of March High School grounds in Kanata, 1976. Mostly observing others (Newtons, Mitchell, Kiomann, Klette - coaching DeRosenroll, Rimmers, Plummer, Fisher I believe) I had no notion, absolutely no idea that this would lead to twenty odd years of coaching and liaising on behalf of the Club, FHO and the Ottawa Carleton School Board. Of tearing down the 401 in hideous weather conditions with a bunch of riotous teenagers for squad training or Summer Games of even Nationals.

Thank you all at Outaousais FC and Field Hockey Ontario for the memories. 

Tessa Mackechnie

(a Skip 2009, and Match Chair, Highland Park Lawn Bowling Club )

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As well as coaching outdoor field hockey, Tessa assisted in bringing the game indoors during the winter months, forging another successful program. The number of girls who have benefited from her love of the game clearly reaches the thousands. So successful has Tessa been that she was recognized for her contribution to junior development of her sport with the Betty Wander Award from Field Hockey Ontario” and with the 1995 local Breakthrough Individual Award given by the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity. Tessa started the Eastern Regional program for junior girls so the elite players didn't have to drive down to Toronto every weekend. She coached and managed that program until her retirement from field hockey in 1997.

Theresa MACKECHNIE-RANALLI Obituary | Ottawa Citizen Remembering 

Theresa "Tessa" True Mackechnie Ranalli (Tessa) Obituary | 1947 - 2026 | Hamilton Spectator