15/06/2026
A letter from Donavon Hendricks 💛🖤
Good evening everyone,
I’ve spent a long time thinking about how to say these words, and honestly, I’m still not sure there’s a perfect way to do it.
After 15 years as club coach, the time has come for me to step away from the role.
This is not a retirment annoucement.
However it feels like the right time in my life journey
When I first walked into this club, I never saw this as just a coaching position. I saw it as a responsibility. A privilege. I always believed I was simply a custodian of something much bigger than myself.
My goal was never about building my legacy. It was about helping restore this club to what it could be, leaving it stronger than when I arrived, and putting structures and systems in place so that success could continue long after I was gone.
Together, we’ve lived through just about everything.
We’ve experienced relegation and the heartbreak that came with it. We fought our way back to Division One. We won back-to-back premierships. We played finals for six straight years. We celebrated club championships, premierships across multiple grades, grew our senior program from three teams to six, relaunched our women’s program, built one of the strongest junior pathways in the state, and transformed our facilities into something this entire community can be proud of.
But if I’m being honest, the achievements aren’t what I’ll carry with me most.
What matters most to me are the people.
From day one, I wanted to be more than just a coach. I wanted to be someone who genuinely cared. Someone players could come to not only for baseball advice, but for life advice. Someone who loved this playing group and this community with everything they had.
And I did.
I gave this club my heart.
To every player, every coach, every committee member, every volunteer, every parent, every supporter — thank you for allowing me into your lives. Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for the conversations, the laughs, the tears, the road trips, the celebrations, and even the hard moments. They all mattered.
One of the greatest privileges of my life has been watching young kids come through our junior program, grow into men and women in our senior ranks, and then go on to achieve incredible things — playing ABL baseball, earning college scholarships in the United States, chasing dreams they once thought were impossible.
That’s what this club is really about.
Not trophies.
Not flags.
People.
And somewhere along the way, so many of you stopped becoming players and teammates to me — you became family.
That’s what makes this so hard.
Because the truth is, a part of my identity has lived inside this club for 15 years. Walking away feels like leaving behind a piece of my soul.
But deep down, I know this is the right time.
This club is in a strong position. It’s healthy. It’s thriving. And now it deserves a fresh voice, fresh energy, and someone else willing to pour themselves into the fabric of this community the same way I tried to.
And at the same time, my family needs me.
For years they have sacrificed so much so I could give myself fully to this role. Now it’s time for me to give that same energy, love and presence back to them — to be the husband and father they deserve.
I am also excited to challenge myself and have dreams and aspirations for my future coaching journey
I want to say a special thank you to Chris Lind and Dwain Richardson. Thank you for your trust, guidance, mentorship and belief in me. Together we achieved things many people thought were impossible, and I’ll always be grateful for that journey.
Also, a thank you to all the coaches who have helped shape the coach I am and helped during this tenure. One thing I learned early on was this role can not be done effectively by yourself. As years went by I desired to add and find the right people to help me while I wanted to help them and empower them to be better coaches. So thank you to you all who helped me grow.
Before I finish, there’s one thing I hope this club never loses.
Never forget where we came from.
Never forget the people who carried this club through difficult years. Never forget the sacrifices that were made to build the culture we now enjoy. Success should never erase struggle, because struggle is what shaped us.
We stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
And I hope, in some small way, I was able to honour those people during my time here.
To everyone in this room — thank you for changing my life.
I will always love this club.
I will always believe in this club.
And no matter where life takes me, this place will always feel like home.
Thank you
Donny.
