The Trois-Rivières Phénix football team had a good few years before the pandemic. Although it took five years, the senior football team is back, led by a former player, Michaël Lussier.
The first version of the Phénix was created in 2012 with former players from the Trois-Rivières Camélons team and many other football enthusiasts. Since 2019, the team had ceased its activities.
“I have friends who played for Saguenay last year, and I went to see them play in Quebec. After the match, we had a long chat and it reminded me how fun senior football was. I had not yet returned to Highway 20 when my phone rang. It was my friend and president of the league, Pierre-Luc Bouchard, who asked me if we wanted to start a team in Trois-Rivières so that the league could expand,” says the president of the team, Michaël Lussier.
“We brought together former Phénix players and joined the LFQ9 (9-a-side football). COVID-19 didn’t help a few years ago because several players left and some found other things to do other than football,” he adds.
Michaël began his playing career with the Polypus at Fernand Lefebvre high school in Sorel-Tracy. Later, his senior career was with the Sorel Knights, in the Montreal Senior Football League, in 2008. A few seasons later, he joined the Phénix where he was co-captain of the offensive, from 2013 to 2018, and managing the Arena Football League team, from 2015 to 2017. He always had the Phoenix tattooed on his heart.
(Photo courtesy of Le Phénix – By Valérie Hébert)
“I brought together four veterans and we sat down together to discuss it and we started the team again,” he adds. I’ve been working on this since last August. The Phoenix is big. It was important to me at a certain period of my life when I no longer wanted to do anything, nor play football. I then decided to leave the problems at home because I felt good when I had my helmet on. »
“We certainly have a long-term vision. We started off on solid foundations, with a great team where everyone does their job. I have two excellent coaches on the ground in Joffrey Bergeron and Loïc Lepage. I am working tirelessly to make this first season of the new version of the team as memorable as possible. »
At the time of writing, the Phénix had one victory in six outings. “We have a more difficult start to the season, but they are all new players who are learning to play together. We have very good team chemistry, adds the one who hung his crampons in 2018, with the Phénix. For us, this is a season of learning. We will give everything we have, every match. We will try to make it as close as possible in the North Division. »
No less than 40 regular players make up the Phénix, in addition to seven reserves.
“The enthusiasm was very strong! At the start of training camp, I had 50 guys signed up. We are a very good option for players who no longer have room to play after their studies. We even allied ourselves with the Diablos, who lent us their facilities. Coach Frank Dussault was very excited about our project because he said that it was a service offering that no longer existed in Mauricie, especially since Trois-Rivières does not have university football. »
To attend the games, the price is set at $5 per adult, while it is free for children 12 and under.
