By Anne Duggan
The similarities between the Louis-Riel Rebelles and the Franco-Cité Faucons boys’ volleyball teams are downright uncanny.
Both French-language schools are home to specialized sports-study programs. Many of their players are club teammates with the Ottawa Mavericks. Both of the team’s coaches are also Mavs coaches, though the connection runs much deeper than that.
Franco-Cité’s Thierry Lavigne played for François St-Denis once upon a time at L’Escale high school in Rockland.
And now they can add one more commonality to the list: 2016 OFSAA champions.
For the first time in national capital high school sports history, two local teams won provincial titles in the same year – the Rebelles earning the ‘A’ championship for Ontario’s smallest schools in North Bay, and the Faucons taking the ‘AA’ crown for medium-sized schools in Windsor.
“It was pretty fun to share our successful weekend with Louis-Riel,” smiles Lavigne. “The players from both teams are all good friends.”
Just to build further on the spooky similarities – both teams’ championship games ended at virtually the same moment, and were played against schools 20 km from one another. The Faucons beat Stratford Central 25-18, 25-27, 25-18, 25-13, while the Rebelles completed a perfect run without a set lost by downing St. Marys 25-14, 25-16, 25-20.
“It was an awesome weekend for Ottawa volleyball, for sure,” signals St-Denis. “It celebrates all of these kids in volleyball, their coaches and their clubs.”
St-Denis, who has led 30 teams to OFSAA competitions and won 16 medals, says that this year’s Louis-Riel team was a special mix of new and veteran volleyball athletes.
“This team evolved around two things: three key players with lots of competitive club experience and three other players who had never played volleyball before,” details the coach of 23 years, noting exceptional team spirit and chemistry made the road to OFSAA relatively easy.
“These guys were so inclusive,” he adds. “Everyone was part of the team, which is why our bus driver at OFSAA was invited to watch the games and was part of the team picture.”
St-Denis says there is mostly a good kind of stress that comes from playing and winning at the provincial high school championships.
“OFSAA is an awesome opportunity to learn,” he indicates.
This time, however, the veteran coach did have some nerves, which came from the fact that his two sons, Alex and Maxime, were on the team.
“OFSAA is always exciting, but this time, it was a bit nerve-wracking to be there with my sons and their need to succeed,” says St-Denis, who celebrated a provincial club title with his boys in 2014.
Lavigne is beginning to accumulate quite the medal collection of his own from his 7 years of coaching Franco-Cité along with assistant Réjean Godmaire. After ending an 8-year championship streak by St. Catharines’ Eden High School with their triumph in 2014, the Faucons lost a 5-set final to Eden in 2015. That fuelled the team’s commitment to win this year, Lavigne says.
“Our strength was depth,” he adds. “The guys had won the city championships four years in a row and wanted to finish off with an OFSAA gold medal.”
A long history – the Faucons seniors have been playing together since Grade 7 – added a little extra shine to the gold medals, Lavigne notes.
“It was definitely a very strong cohort,” underlines the former Laval Rouge et Or All-Canadian university player. “They are great players, students and friends. We just enjoyed working with them. They are the complete package.”