Thanks to the never-ending construction on St. Clair, I’m running late for my interview with one of the most celebrated athletes at BSS. Face glistening with sweat, the stress of the road works reading like a road map of worry lines on my furrowed brow, I hasten into the foyer.

Sitting patiently on a bench is a petite girl with long auburn hair and freckles. “That can’t be her,” I think, “she’s not big enough to be the top ranked Under 18 Female Hockey Defenseman (or is it Defensewoman?) in Canada. Shouldn’t she be, well, more ‘strapping’?” But it is her. And she’s on time. As always.

Shannon Doyle can’t afford to be late. Ever. As a member of the Elite Performer Program at BSS, her life runs on a pretty tight schedule. “Monday I work out, Tuesday there’s 6:00 am practice with the BSS hockey team, Tuesday nights I practise with my Junior Team the Aeros, Wednesday is game day with BSS and the Aeros, Thursday another morning practice with BSS and an evening practice with the Aeros. And on Friday, my parents pick me up after my 4:30 pm workout and take me home for the weekend where I play more games or take private hockey lessons.” In total, Shannon plays on four hockey teams—the BSS Bobcats, the Aeros (Junior Team), Team Ontario Red (a Tier One Team), and the Under 18
Canada Team. Yet she still manages an extremely demanding Grade 12 course load and is a Boarding School Ambassador. Feeling exhausted yet? Cause I know I am.

None of it fazes Shannon. It’s all just another day at the rink. “Now that I’m in Boarding, my schedule is a bit easier. When I first got to BSS in Grade 9, my Dad and I would commute four hours a day going back and forth between Toronto and my hometown of Baldwin. Last year, Tuesday was ‘Death Day’ because I had no time to do any work at night.” So why does she do it? “I love the game.” Yeah, she really, really must.

Funnily enough, it was figure skates that Shannon laced up when she first hit the ice. “My Mom put me in figure skating because that’s what girls did,” she smiles. But beneath the sit-spins and salchows beat the heart of a hockey player. “I picked up skating really fast so my coaches stopped paying attention to me and I got bored. So when I was six, I asked if I could play hockey instead. Plus I wanted to be like my brother Ryan.” In the beginning, Carol and Frank Doyle were worried Shannon would get hurt playing hockey with boys. But her agility and speed soon proved to be a huge asset. “Starting in figure skating gave me an edge over the guys because I could skate rings around them. That’s why they put me on defense—I was the only one on my team who could skate backwards.”

The Doyles’ fears about injuries soon came true, however. “When you reach a certain age, guys are just physically stronger than girls. When I was 10, a larger boy fell on me and I broke my leg in seven places. Another time, two guys fell on my ankle. The tendon pulled the bone out of place so now I have two screws in my ankle.” Cool, I think to myself, my fascination with the macabre rearing its ugly head. “Even though I was the lead hitter on my team, (atta girl!) I switched over to an all-girls team in Grade 8.”

So how does a female hockey player from Baldwin with two screws in her ankle end up at BSS anyway? It’s all part of the School’s goal of celebrating diversity and talent in its student body. Clearly, there are no cookie-cutter girls here. “BSS recruits hockey players to help develop the team and replace some graduating girls with younger players,” Shannon explains. “When they approached my parents and me, we were really excited. We saw it as a great opportunity for me to come to an amazing school. It was an opportunity I wouldn’t have had otherwise.” Before accepting her outright, Shannon was invited to skate with the BSS team. “I guess they liked what
they saw because they took me and another girl that year.” And clearly, she needed academics as much as athletics. Shannon cites English and Philosophy as favourite subjects.

Still, it must have been daunting coming to an all-girls independent school. “I was anxious at first. I never pictured myself coming to a school like BSS.” And how is BSS different from other schools she’s been to? “Obviously the beautiful facilities,” she says. Yes, sprawling green playing field, a gorgeous old stone building, an art room that looks like it’s straight out of Harry Potter, what’s not to love? “But the teacher support is really what’s amazing. You’re not on your own. Of course, they have high standards and expect you to get your work done. But there’s a huge support group here.” And if Shannon is feeling really overwhelmed, she can always turn to Sarah Crump, Elite Performer Coordinator at BSS. “Ms. Crump is amazing. She’ll help me organize my schedule and talk to my teachers if I’m feeling like I can’t get everything done in time. When it’s really hectic, she’s great at relieving some of the stress.” And what does Ms. Crump think about Shannon? “Shannon embodies what it means to be a leader. In Boarding she is a good friend to many and makes everyone, especially the new Boarders, feel at ease,” she says. “She’s a responsible, caring and passionate young adult who’s well respected within the School and the community. We’re proud of her success in hockey and her ability to balance all that comes her way with a positive attitude.”

As for other support in Shannon’s life, there’s tons of it. Her good friend Adrienne Crampton also plays defense for the Bobcats so she knows what it’s like to juggle. “Adrienne and I push each other to do well. There’s a bit of friendly competition between us. And since she understands what I’m going through, I can vent to her and vice versa.” When it comes to family, they couldn’t be more supportive. “My Mom quit her job so she could drive me around to games and practices if my Dad couldn’t. Before I started Boarding, my Dad would wake up every day at 4:30 am to make me breakfast and get me to BSS.” Speaking of breakfast, this pint-sized powerhouse never misses it. Or any other opportunity to eat, for that matter. “With all the training I do, I eat all the time. I’d be obese if I wasn’t in hockey,” she laughs.

Besides all the teacher/friend/family assistance, what keeps a girl of 17 so motivated? “Passion for the game,” she replies without hesitation. Anything else? “I want to become the best for myself. And to be able to pay my parents back. They’ve dedicated all their time giving me the opportunity to be the best I can. I want to give back to them.” Part of this is the reason Shannon is going to university in New York when she graduates this year. Colgate University in Hamilton, New York on full scholarship, to be exact. “I’m going to major in English or Philosophy. They have a Division One Hockey Program at Colgate. And it’s close enough to home that my parents can visit me on the weekends.” Sorry? Drive all the way from Baldwin to New York on the weekends? “They’d miss seeing me play,” she smiles. Time to rack up a few more kilometres on the old odometer, Dad.

For Shannon, the ultimate goal is to get to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. “The Olympics is everything for women hockey players. There is no NHL for women. The Olympics is it.” And once that goal’s reached, because really, once you’ve met Shannon you know there is no other option but reaching it, what’s next? “English teacher or a Philosophy Professor. But my Dad also suggested that I could become a university hockey coach so I’m thinking about that.”

Is there any time in her whirling-dervish life to relax, I wonder. “Nope. I never just sit around and watch TV.” Not that she minds. “Hockey is my release. It’s my sanctuary. When I’m on the ice, I don’t stress about math homework or any problems I’m having. The only thing I have to worry about is hockey.” And although there’s no time to veg in front of the TV, Shannon is determined to watch at least some of the Olympic coverage this year.

With our time almost at an end and Shannon with a million things to do before she goes to class, I ask what her philosophy is. I’m pretty sure she’ll have one. She does. And it’s this: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Something tells me that if Shannon had been responsible for the construction on St. Clair, it would have been finished months ago and I wouldn’t have arrived late. Or sweaty. As for boys? “No, there’s no time for that either. Which makes my Dad happy. He even encouraged me to go to an all-girls university!”

Posted April 22, 2010 at 12:04am

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