Harrow, Michael

BORN IN CANADA ON MARCH 17TH, 1972, he moved to Australia in 1986 when he was 15 years-old and settled in Queanbeyan in 1991. He and his brother, Laing, quickly established themselves in softball and ice hockey. He made his debut for ACT in softball in 1988, the same year he joined the Canberra Knights as a forward. The Knights finally won the Goodall Cup 10 years later in 1998. He set the club record for the most assists in a season in 2005. He was a captain of the Knights 2004 to 2006 and head coach in 2007. All up, he played 318 games for the club in a career spanning 19 years from 1988 to 2007.

Harrow is a dual international. He represented Australia in ice hockey at four IIHF Division 2 world championships — 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001, winning bronze (1999, 2001) and silver (1998) medals. He was also a champion softballer, captaining the Aussie Steelers to their first ever World Championship win in 2009 and finishing as the most capped men's player in Australian history with 160 games. He represented Australia in softball from 1990 until 2009. He captained the Aussie Steelers from 2001 until 2009 and played at 5 Open Men’s World Championships — 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2009 — winning a bronze (2004) and a gold (2009) medal. He played in 22 consecutive national championships with the ACT, winning nine titles. The ACT men's softball team won eight of the last 10 national titles he contested to become the most dominant state or territory in the country. He won 3 national awards; Most Valuable Player in 1995 and 2008 and Best Batter in 2004. [1]

Michael Harrow was inducted into the Softball Australia Hall of Fame in 2013; the ACT Sport Hall of Fame in 2014; and the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame in 2015. He continued to play ice hockey with the Northstars in the Brisbane United Ice Hockey League.

The former Knights captain is now based in Mildmay, Ontario. A Personal Trainer and Bootcamp Instructor for over 15 years, Harrow is a Certified Hockey Training Specialist and a strength and conditioning coach with young athletes, including the Men's and Women's teams of Softball Australia. In 2019, the Queensland Cyclones travel hockey team he started claimed the crown at the 70th annual Young Canada Week, the oldest tournament of its kind there.