The little school that could

By Adam Richardson
The News
Danielle Cyr and Heather Bourgeois belong on any high school soccer field. On the grass of McCulloch Field, they dominate.
The pair of Grade 11 athletes lead the Pictou Academy Pitbulls, a perennial contender in Division 4 soccer. Yes, Division 4 - three notches in size below the North Novas and Northumberlands of the world, where competition comes from schools like Oxford, Pugwash and the always dangerous Colchester Christian Academy.
When Pictou Academy forms a sports team from their scant 135-person student body, there's often no worry of cuts. Instead, the question is whether they, or other league members, can field a full team.
"The demands, the numbers are different (than a Division 1 school)," said Rick Cyr, a teacher, guidance councilor and coach of nearly everything played at the school. "We don't have to make the cuts that other places do, and sometimes we take the players we can get. But once the tryouts begin, once we start practicing, we're as serious as anyone else around."
Serious, yes. Impatient? Not exactly. On this year's girls soccer team - a group that is a win away from hosting a provincial qualifier next week - Cyr has a Grade 12 player who took up the sport at the beginning of the season. Would that happen in metro Halifax, North Nova or Northumberland?
"There's probably no way that person would be given a chance to play high school soccer anywhere else, but they have the right attitude, they're eager to learn and they try their best," Cyr said. "We wouldn't take someone that's not in the best interest of the team, but if there's room, everyone deserves a chance to take part."
Cyr is fortunate to have a core group of athletes on the boys and girls side, and also has the luxury of coaching his own children. Danielle is his daughter, and his son, Andre, was an athletic standout at PA and now suits up for the Royal Canadian Military College's men's basketball team.
He takes pride instructing the soccer girls on the sidelines. By the second half of yesterday's game, things are already out of reach. Danielle and Bourgeois are slicing through the North Colchester Mustangs 4-0, a fourth-place team high on heart but sorely lacking in tactics and skill. Both have scored in this contest, along with Brittany Robertson and Elizabeth Hall.
It's a playoff game, but there's something else happening on the bench. The girls in the red-and-white of PA are having a great time chatting about their social lives, trying to stay warm on a biting, soggy afternoon in October.
The kinship - the fun shared - shouldn't come as a surprise. These girls know everyone at their school, let alone their team. And girls like Cyr and Bourgeois stay busy, playing not only soccer but also softball, table tennis, badminton, basketball, and running.
Oh yeah, and class.
"We know everyone's first and last names here, probably their middle name too," said Danielle, a centre-midfielder who plays her summer soccer with the Highland Knights Tier 1 under-18 program. "There aren't any cliques at our school or on the teams. You help girls that have never played before, you want them to improve."
Helping the beginners along takes patience, but that doesn't mean a free ride for the newbies. After all, this is the school's bread-and-butter sport. Because of a strong feeder program in Pictou Minor Soccer, the Academy always has more than one top-notch footballers, and normally a squad with more calibre experience than their opponents.
"Some teams we play, they're just run-and-kick," said Bourgeois. "That's part of the game. When we have players that are new, we have to give them a chance to learn, but you also need to work them pretty hard to get better."
Today, Pictou Academy will host the regional championship game at Lions Field in Pictou. Kickoff is 2 p.m. The competition will be stiff - the Pugwash squad across the field nipped PA 2-1 in last year's final, and these Pitbulls to make amends.