In Pursuit of Excellence: Lifelong Friendships

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - By Sara Baxter - It is always said that you go to university to make lifelong friendships, but rarely do you bring those lifelong friendships with you to school from home. Jenna Howell, Rachel Cunningham and Gemma Leblanc, members of the Acadia Varsity Women's Soccer team, have all proved that childhood friendships can stand the test of university. These three athletes would even say that their lifelong connection is an asset to the Women's Soccer team at Acadia University.

"It's just like a chemistry on the field, you just know how they're going to play, what they're going to do" Gemma explained.

The three girls have been playing together since U12 competitive soccer, while Gemma and Rachel have been playing together since U8. Somewhere between U12 and today, all three girls chose to attend Acadia University, and apparently Acadia has been on their minds since those first few years playing soccer together back in Dartmouth.

All members of the Dartmouth United soccer club, they said they grew up with Acadia on their brains. Current varsity women's soccer coach Amit Batra, was also a coach with Dartmouth United, and has been helping these girls hone their soccer skills since they were in elementary school. They also credit coach Katie Aucoin (Acadia Alumnus) with convincing them that Acadia University was the place to be.

Gemma credits Katie with introducing her to Acadia, "We had a coach, Katie Aucoin, and she came here, so growing up they'd always take our team for Acadia Weekends. So, we were basically brainwashed from a young age". Rachel also said Katie was her reason for choosing Acadia, "because of Katie Aucoin, she was an alumnus from here, and I was just convinced from age 10 that Acadia was the best".
Gemma is working hard to do for current soccer players what Katie did for her ten years ago, "I coached a lot at home, and my whole Dartmouth team was here on Sunday, and they all had their Acadia shirts. And they all want to play here already".

All three girls emphasize the team-first attitude on the Axewomen team as a reason for their continued love of soccer at Acadia, and the success of the team. "There's really good chemistry, we're all on the same page and we work really hard to make sure we all have the same goals and want the same outcomes" said Jenna. As Rachel explained, "At the end of the day, our team is not motivated for individual reasons, but really for team reasons".

The girls said this team attitude helps bring the entire team closer together. "We're all just like a really close-knit team, we're all really close, and we're all good friends" says Gemma. They explained that playing soccer on a team with so many other athletes who call Nova Scotia home is also extremely special. Gemma said that when the girls came into training camp in first year they already knew 80% of the team, and this was primarily from playing either with or against each other throughout their soccer careers.

As head coach Amit Batra said "the interconnections here- now that I'm thinking about it are pretty neat". Many of the Axewomen have been playing together since long before AUS soccer was their plan, and Rachel, Gemma and Jenna are only one example. These lifelong friendships within the varsity women's soccer team are only going to improve the team's overall level of play and better prepare them for the season ahead.