About Me
I was born and raised in North Toronto, attended Northern Secondary School and then did my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. While there I did a double-major in Canadian Studies and history, and completed my courses by doing an independent study on the 1972 Summit Series and its impact on Canadian identity.
At U of T I played two seasons of varsity field lacrosse and then became an assistant coach of the team. I moved on to being the team manager. That led to becoming involved with the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association’s board as Director of Communications.
It was at this point that I decided I wanted to write for a living, particularly about sports.
For a post-grad diploma I went to Centennial College for sports journalism. My cohort was the first of its kind in North America and it led me to a volunteer position with the Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse where I wrote game stories and feature stories.
As graduation approached, I was hired by the Canadian Press as a Junior Hockey Editorial Assistant and earned an internship with CBC Sports’ online unit.
At the CBC I was tasked with helping prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. I did a great deal of research on Canadian Olympians, and was even given the opportunity to write feature stories on gold medal hopefuls Charles Hamelin and Ashleigh McIvor.
In the summer of 2010 I was contracted by Canada's Sports Hall of Fame as a researcher-writer to help create content for their new building in Calgary, Alberta. In that capacity I wrote nearly 100 entries for various galleries that will be displayed in 2011.
My writing has appeared on InsideLacrosse.com, CUFLA.ca, alternavox.net, the Toronto Observer, NationalsLacrosse.com, CBC Sports’ Vancouver Now website, the Ontario Minor Hockey Associations’ Hometown Hockey magazine and HockeyPrimeTime.com.
I’m still working for the Canadian Press, and the game stories I write and edit about the QMJHL, OHL, and WHL are distributed across Canada and parts of the United States. My freelance work for CP has been widely distributed, appearing on the webpages of the Globe and Mail, Macleans, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, the Hamilton Spectator, the Guelph Mercury and a host of news radio stations.
As you can probably tell from this website, I’m very interested in sports, reading, sports, writing, sports, pop culture and sports. If you ever want to drop me a line I can be reached at jhm [dot] chidley [dot] hill [at] gmail.com.
To see samples of my writing, click here.
To see my resume, click here.