The excitement surrounding the announced confirmation regarding the construction of a full-sized (FIFA) turf soccer pitch snuggled nicely between Collège Boréal and École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier, complete with seating for a thousand fans could be felt on so many levels last week.

For the primary partners in this initiative - Collège Boréal and Conseil scolaire du Grand-Nord - there were ample reasons to be proud of the important undertaking, especially in light of the fact that the home of the Vipères have committed to fielding OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) men's and women's soccer programs beginning with the 2027-2028 season.

"First off, it's a great partnership," noted Daniel Giroux, President of Collège Boréal. "If you look at the distance between Collège Boréal and Macdonald-Cartier, it only makes sense."

"This venue is important for us to attract some of the best soccer players (to Boréal) to compete; but we want to go a lot further than that."

The partnership also sees the creation of a new Soccer Academy at Macdonald-Cartier, a program that will be run jointly but the college and the high-school itself.

With the influx of new Canadians to the area in recent years, many of whom are native to French-speaking African nations, the ability to entice students to the Panthères family all while providing a training grounds for coaches offers plenty of appeal to all of those involved with this initiative.,/p>

On a larger scale, the new turf field marks only the second such outdoor setting in Sudbury - compared to four in North Bay.

"For the community, it's another amazing soccer facility that is very central, with easy access and free parking," noted President Giroux. "The combination of all things makes this project so important."

With ground expected to be broken in the next week or two and Boréal targetting a club program exhibition soccer season in 2026-2027, Vipères coaches have no choice but to hit the ground running - ASAP.

"This year is definitely a building year," noted Natalie Chenier, entrusted with the new women's program along with long-time acquaintance Matt Litalien. "It is very late in the season to start recruiting, so we have to be realistic."

That said, the coaching tandem as well as men's coach Mata Boboy have been out to catch as many games as possible in recent months as the reality of this venture became more and more likely.

"We would like it ready for this fall; we will move quickly," said Giroux. "The advantage here is that a soccer field already exists. We've got to expand. We have lots of parking behind Collège Boréal and we have the capacity to increase that even more."