The volleyball program is very popular at École Sainte-Agathe, the Kindergarten to Grade Eight school in Ste. Agathe, and according to a pair of coaches all four teams had great seasons this fall.

The success these teams have enjoyed is especially impressive considering how small the school is, and how few players are available to compete on each team. 

Grade Eight Boys 

The Grade Eight Boys team is actually made up of ten students from both Grades Seven and Eight, and they had the distinction this year of going undefeated in the regular season. During the season, they played other teams within the French-language DSFM school division.

“They are coached by Mr. Nhat Doan and also entered two city tournaments,” says Éric Cousineau, who coaches the Grade Six team. “They placed fourth in the Grade Eight Hedges Middle School tournament, third in the Grade Eight John W. Gunn tournament, and third as well in our divisional tournament.”

At the Grade Eight divisional tournament, Cousineau says the team lost only three sets all day. 

Grade Six Boys 

Impressively, the Grade Six Boys competed at the Grade Seven level throughout the season—and they, too, went undefeated in regular season play.

This team also played in a couple of tournaments that took them into the big city, and they excelled at both. At the Grade Seven Hedges Middle School tournament, the team came out on top. This was followed up by another first-place finish at the Grade Seven John W. Gunn tournament. In both tournaments combined, the Grade Six Boys lost just one set.

Ten teams from around the province met at the Grade Seven divisional tournament, hosted this year at the Dakota Field House (DFH) in Winnipeg on Wednesday, November 27.

“DFH is the perfect facility for this kind of event, with six full-sized volleyball courts,” says Cousineau. “We played four round robin games of two sets and ended up first in our pool, winning all of them.”

They went on to play École Lagimodière in the semifinals. Lagimodière had placed second in their pool, but Ste. Agathe won both sets.

“The final game was against École Christine-Lespérance and promised to be a close one, based on the round robin game we had already played against them earlier that day,” Cousineau says. “It didn’t disappoint. We were down 10–1 in the first set and the boys looked extremely tired. But every time we’d get a point to bring us a little closer, you could feel their energy level was increasing again, and once we finally took the lead, there was no turning back.”

Ste. Agathe won both sets and claimed top spot, having gone undefeated all day.

“This year has definitely been one of my greatest coaching experience in my twenty-some years of coaching youth sports,” he adds. “I’ve had very few teams with the same work ethic, dedication, leadership, respect, and team-first attitude. I couldn’t be prouder of that group of young but extremely mature boys.” 

Grade Eight Girls 

The Grade Eight Girls battled hard all year, and the work they put into their game paid off when they won their divisional tournament against a big local rival.

“The regular season was consistent,” says coach Julie Bacon-Papineau. “We would either split the matches or win them both. The girls were working on some specific technique every game… serving, serve receive, positioning on the court, reading the flight of the ball, etc.”

The girls competed in one city tournament in mid-November, where they finished in second place. Bacon-Papineau says this was a real confidence-booster.

“At that point, I believed that we could win the divisionals,” she says. “At divisionals, Gabrielle-Roy [in Île-des-Chênes] was certainly our number one competition, and École La Source [from Shilo, Manitoba]. The girls needed some encouragement and belief in themselves that they could win against Gabrielle Roy. During the season, we managed to win one game. The others were close with some small mistakes.”

Bacon-Papineau says she wasn’t overly concerned, since her team had shown they had the ability to win. It was just a matter of them improving their mindset.

“In the divisional final, we lost the first set, won the second, and then won the tiebreaker,” she says. “All the girls contributed either with their serving, back court play, or front row near the net. I would have to say the final, being behind and coming back to win, was definitely the highlight of the divisionals. During the timeouts, I had to remind them that they could win as a team. To succeed, they needed to communicate on the court and control the ball with three passes. These were the key to our success.”

Having won their division, the Ste. Agathe girls then had the opportunity to compete at provincials.

“The first evening of provincials, the girls were a little frustrated after losing both matches. I reminded them to appreciate where they were, at the provincials representing the division,” she says. “The next day, the girls seemed to enjoy themselves and spent some time watching and learning the game.”

Ultimately, they lost all of their provincials matches, but the girls learned a lot—and they have a lot to look forward to next year. After all, the school’s younger team, the Grade Six Girls, also had a very good year competing at the Grade Seven level. Bacon-Papineau says there is a lot of talent coming up.

“In my head, my plan for the girls volleyball at École Sainte-Agathe was always a two-year plan. This year, we started with the basics and then progressed with more strategy, positioning, and ball control. To have a chance to compete in the provincials was not even on my radar.” 

Small School Pride 

One of the reasons these success stories are so impressive, according to the coaches, is that the school is so small. Cousineau says it’s a tremendous source of pride for the staff and students that their volleyball teams are capable of punching so far above their weight class.

“I remember a time when our Grade Seven and Eight students couldn’t wait to move on to the bigger high schools,” he says. “Now, with that new sense of pride and accomplishment, we see quite the opposite. They cherish their time here and appreciate more what our school has to offer.”

Bacon-Papineau agrees with this assessment. “The girls, the parents, and the school were very proud. The girls throughout the provincials held their heads high and never gave up. Imagine, a small rural school with a total of 11 girls in Grades Seven and Eight—that’s all the girls in the school—made it to the provincials representing their division! The other teams were from schools with over 350 students.”