How Collingwood's initiatives are creating All-Stars on the court and in the community

Thanks to individuals like Manny Hendrix and many others, the club's development program is investing in the youth, and it's paying dividends.

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These days, Manny Hendrix gets to the gym at 5:30am to open up the gym at Collingwood College. It was formerly 6am, but the number of players arriving before him forced his hand.

Hendrix’s first contact with the eager basketball community of Collingwood came as an import for Western Port. His Steelers were first on the ladder, Collingwood last, but it didn’t stop the American from being heckled by young players, even before he stepped foot inside the stadium.

“We were walking from our cars and there was this outdoor hoop, half broken backboard, double rim, there couldn’t have been a worse basketball court, with kids playing. Then they started coming up saying ‘Are you from America? Can you hoop?’" Hendrix recalled.

“There’s nowhere else in Australia that I’ve really seen kids out just playing basketball like that. Most courts are busy and booked out with practices and all that, but these kids are outside, no net, the backboard is half broken, but you can’t tell them nothing because they’re out there getting buckets and talking trash.

“The atmosphere, even in the old gym, was crazy in Collingwood. It felt like you had 300-400 people in the stands, kids on the sidelines talking. And I talk back.”

It was an environment that reminded him of his time growing up in Utah playing basketball at Sugar Lake Boys and Girls Club as a teen. Collingwood’s diverse community, populated in part by those living in the suburbs looming housing commission flats, was brimming with untapped potential. Inspired to make a difference, Hendrix decided to reach out and try to join the program.