If Michelle Kozlowskyj and Frédéric Houle were going to make a little history, they were going to have to test their resolve first.
In becoming the first ever athletes representing Boréal Vipères athletics to medal at a CCAA (Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association) championship, the mixed doubles badminton team had to overcome an 0-2 start in tournament play in Edmonton, as well as dropping the first set in their best of three bronze medal match.
But when the dust settled at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, the Northern Ontario tandem (Kozlowskyj is from Sudbury; Houle from Elliot Lake) reeled off three straight wins in round robin play and bounced back from a disappointing straight set loss to University of King’s College in Halifax, besting the host NAIT pair of Davis Wong and Ivy Ung 17-21, 21-15, 21-11.
“We took the two losses and yes, maybe we were both a bit upset that we didn’t win,” said Houle, who frequently teamed up with twin brother Benjamin throughout his high-school career. “But after that, we cheered each other up, we were there for each other.
“I think this was one of our greatest assets, our encouragement on the court.”
For as much as an 0-2 start was not ideal, the reality is that the luck of the draw in terms of scheduling pitted Kozlowskyj and Houle against the two teams that would eventually earn gold and silver on day one, meaning that all was not lost.
“It was tough, it was disappointing, but I don’t think it affected us as much as some people might think,” said Kozlowskyj, a graduate of E.S.C. Sacré-Coeur. “We knew that those were two of the strongest teams there. Our third match was good to help us shake off the nerves. On the second day, we really clicked and started playing better.”
The simple truth is that in a season that featured none of the traditional mid-season tournaments across the province and a complete absence of practice time together for the better part of both December and January, the fact that this was the first and only year for the Kozlowskyj/Houle pairing meant that the learning curve would have to be a steep one.
“The biggest thing that we were missing was the chance to play against stronger players,” said Kozlowskyj, a three-time SDSSAA champion in women’s singles play. “We wanted to play against people that were better than us in order to improve. At this level, it’s faster paced and more attacking.
“As we moved on, it was some of the best badminton that we’ve ever played.”
As to be expected in any team sport, even with a team of just two, chemistry is critical.
“A big part of this was learning to play together,” said Houle. “Sometimes we make a mistake that we shouldn’t have made, but the encouragement that we gave each other really helped lift the spirit of the team, helping us focus on the next point rather than the point that we lost.”
It was that kind of “keep the chin up” attitude that came in handy, even deep in the tournament with national bronze medals on the line.
“Even after the first set of the bronze medal game, we were both really confident that we could still bring this home,” said Houle. “We noticed that we made a bit too many mistakes and that we weren’t really playing our game. We started to play our mixed game, stopped lifting the bird so much, keeping it down.”
By all accounts, even as the locals celebrated their bronze-medal-winning point, they remained unaware of the historical significance of their victory, realizing only a while later that their accomplishment represented a first for the college which might well have the smallest student population of any school in the OCAA.
“It means the world to us, to be part of history,” said Houle. “The support from the Boréal family, from our coaches, from our friends and family, from our teammates is just incredible. I’ve never been part of something so big.”
Still, all good things come to an end, with the CCAA Badminton Championships representing the final stop in the illustrious career of Kozlowskyj, a young woman who twice captured OCAA bronze medals while partnered with Georgian Brown teammate Courtney Brewer in women’s doubles play.
“I am trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to do next year, but I’m definitely not going to take a break from badminton,” she said. “The badminton there was the best badminton I had ever seen.”
Randy Pascal is a sportswriter in Greater Sudbury. Pursuit is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.
