A tale of two schools

It’s hard sometimes to recall all the highlights of an entire year in school athletics.

I guess it’s a good thing they hold year-end athletic awards celebrations.

I attended two athletic award banquets this month, one at Horton and the other at NKEC. The two evenings were similar: they involved lots of outstanding young athletes and celebrated their successes. On the other hand, they were also as different as the schools that hosted them.

Horton has been around for close to 50 years, in both its former and present locations. It has a long and successful athletic tradition and, as a result, almost nothing is a “first.” That’s not to suggest, however, there aren’t anymore “firsts” at Horton: this past year - just one example, the school fielded its first-ever football team.

You’re more likely, though, to find when a team like D-1 boys’ basketball wins back-to-back provincial titles, as happened at Horton this year, the accomplishment isn’t likely to be without precedent – even if it was back in 1969.

Seemingly every year, Horton is in the mix regionally, if not provincially, in just about every sport. The 2007/ 2008 year was fairly typical, with a host of district and regional titles and four teams and two individuals, Justin Barkhouse (for a third straight year) in badminton and Les Ells in snowboarding, winning provincial titles.

In contrast to Horton’s long history, NKEC has been a school for just seven years. The two schools (Cornwallis and KCA) that merged to form NKEC both had solid athletic traditions. Almost from the start, NKEC enjoyed success: winning provincial banners in a variety of sports from soccer and hockey to badminton and table tennis. The Titans were provincial D-2 hockey champs twice in three years and, one year, NKEC captured provincial titles in both boys’ and girls’ soccer - on the same day.

Counting this year, the school has won 19 provincial team banners – a total which, while it pales in terms of Horton’s, is mighty impressive in such a short time; as well as a number of individual titles.

NKEC added four banners to its total this past year – two in badminton, one in table tennis and, perhaps most significantly, one in football. In only their second year, the Titans captured the provincial Tier II banner on home field.

Before NKEC opened, there was a lot of debate about the location of the new school, and real concern as to how well two very different school populations, both with strong traditions and no shortage of individuality, would manage to co-exist. Those concerns faded well before the end of its first year. When you watch a NKEC team play these days, it’s almost impossible - unless you happen to know the names - to say which community kids hail from.

During the recent awards banquet, athletic director Dave Morton noted all three of the Junior Athletes of the Year (Jeff Longaphy, Rhianna Nicholson and Jessica Mahaney) “came to us from KCA.” More interesting was the fact Morton saw fit to make special mention of it at all – to me, a real testament to how well the NKEC school community has come together.

Needless to say, Horton has a fairly seamless community, despite the fact it has a huge catchment area that includes two towns (Wolfville and Hantsport) plus the villages of New Minas and Port Williams.

I feel quite fortunate to be able to spend time at both schools – which, despite their differences, are more alike than one might think, especially in terms of their commitment to success – and to watch their quality athletes and teams compete on a regular basis.