French Basketball at École Sainte-Anne: A Winning Strategy

Basketball is becoming more and more popular among young French-speaking people. And it gives Acadian schools a good boost in retaining students.

The Beavers of École Sainte-Anne, Frederictonobserved it. After winning their first provincial championship last March, the capital team managed to maintain its program of basketball at a good level.

This sport attracts good athletes who increasingly choose to stay in the French-speaking school system.

Caleb Boudreau, a veteran of the team, is happy with the progress of the basketball at his school.

It’s a good feeling. There are people who leave our school to go to an English-speaking school because, usually, we didn’t earn. But the fact that they stay to play longer is goodsays the young 12th grade athlete.

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In a minority environment like Frederictonwhere the pool of French-speaking students is smaller, sport helps retain young people.

In the case of the Castors, they gained credibility by being finalists, in 2024, and then champions, in 2025, during the senior AA provincial final.

This change did not happen by snapping his fingers, recalls head coach Mario Vautour.

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It really started in 2019, when Raptors won their championship [de la NBA]explains the mentor.

All the young people said “ThemI want to play basketball”. Then we see the difference. There are many more young French-speaking people who play basketball now in Fredericton.

However, providing only one opportunity to play basketball in French is not a guarantee of success. The program must be well structured.

Three years ago, we just had one team, with players from grades 9 to 12remembers Mr. Vautour. Then, we started a junior team for players in grades 7 to 9, which is developing well. The guys go up with the rest of us and are already ready to play. It makes a big difference.

In the past, after great successes in a sport little known to French speakers, there have already been situations where teams have stopped their activities due to lack of replacement players.

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Now, events like the Coupe de l’Acadie in Moncton bear witness to the excitement of basketball in French.

Established schools such as Mathieu-Martin, in Dieppe, and L’Odyssée, in Moncton, sit alongside those of Samuel-de-Champlain (Saint-Jean), ÉSN (Bathurst), Cité des Jeunes (Edmundston) and Roland-Pépin (Campbellton), to name just a few.

Mario Vautour would like, to further maximize the potential of young French-speaking people, for basketball to be back in the Acadia Games programming.

There is French-speaking basketball across the provincehe remarks.

A season of transition

That said, the aftermath of the championship is a little more difficult for the Castors.

It’s going well, but it’s so difficultexplains Caleb Boudreau, who experienced the championship in 2025. We had great guys who were such good players. We do what we can.

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He admits that, sometimes, it can be discouraging. But he keeps his head high and has confidence in the future.

We’re rebuilding and it’s goodhe says.

Two weeks ago, École Sainte-Anne lost in the semi-final of the Coupe de l’Acadie, against the Jaguars from Center scolaire Samuel-de-Champlain.

We have talent on the team, but it’s a processexplains Mr. Vautour.

We started the season well and we had injuries. It was a bit difficult.

The Coupe de l’Acadie weekend was the first time everyone was healthy.

You know, it’s not going to be easy. But, we can make it to the final again this year. We just have to play perfectlyconcludes the instructor, smiling.