Brittney Roussy will soon be taking a bow on more than one stage
Justin Scott // Managing Editor
While many people often see theatre and athletics as vastly different practices, for Brittney Roussy, the Capilano University Blues women’s soccer team’s starting goalkeeper, they’re two of the biggest parts of her life. The second-year player is not only seeing impressive success on the pitch this season, but she’s also finding the same success off it.
Roussy is deceptively ranked third in the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST) with a 0.805 goals against average and the league’s most wins, but has played twice as many games as Douglas College Royals’ Nicole Scott, who is ranked first.
Not only is Roussy seeing a burst of success, but the women’s team as a whole is surging at this point in the season, experiencing a hiccup this past weekend. After starting their season with four ties, a win and a loss, they had won four straight before dropping their last two, now to just four points behind first place Royals.
If her success on the pitch wasn’t enough, Roussy has been taking major strides outside of athletics as well.
“I’m finally in a program I really like,” she said. After a year of general studies, Roussy was accepted into CapU’s Acting for Stage and Screen program this semester – something she’s always dreamed of. “I’ve always wanted to be a voice actor,” she explained, “I’ve been doing little voices since I was a kid.”
While students in the first year of the program generally aren’t allowed to act in Exit 22 Productions, they can help with the shows. Roussy hopes to be a stage manager in the spring, which she’s only done for high school productions in the past. And the timing couldn’t be better for such an integral part of the women’s team.
The team has set a goal for this season – win the PACWEST conference and represent BC in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association’s (CCAA) national championships in November. The women’s team last won the PACWEST in the 2007- 08 season and the CCAA national title in the 2001-02 season. In Roussy’s opinion, if there’s a year to repeat these feats, this is the one. “If we are going to do it, it’s this team,” she said.
For the Blues to achieve their goal, Roussy will need to maintain her domination of other team’s attacks, something that she achieves in tandem with her defensive line. “Our strong defence is what I really rely on,” she acknowledged. “I trust my back line a lot and the fact that they can use me as a player as well as a goalkeeper and they have a lot of trust in me that if something happens I’m always there for them.”
Roussy was trained to be a diverse keeper and to not just sit in her net. This means that she is far more active in the defence’s play than others who share her position, which she sees as an advantage for both herself and her teammates. “I was trained to play very high out of my box, almost like a sweeper. So, I’m always there for pass backs, and any through balls,” she explained. Additionally, she likes to charge through balls sent by opposing teams as opposed to sitting back and allowing them fast break opportunities.
Although the team is only midway through the season, Roussy’s future is looking bright, both on and off the field. She has three years left in her program and four of playing eligibility. Having already secured the starting spot, she’s now full of confidence and ready to help lead the team to the national tournament. “I’ve never been past Alberta, so to go to Nova Scotia, it’s always in my dreams to go for soccer and to know that we’re representing BC – it would be the coolest thing, I’d love it,” she admitted.
With the pitch under control, she’s now ready to see similar success on the stage. She may only be in her first year of the program, but it’s something she’s been preparing for her whole life. Roussy’s dream is to end up with roles in feature films, but believes that voice acting will be where she’ll find success at first. “If I get into movie acting then fabulous, but I feel like there’s a bigger market right now for voice acting,” she said.
Although the two disciplines may seem worlds apart, Roussy finds that they in fact complement each other, learning from all of her life’s experiences. “Movement and teamwork; I find I can flow better on stage as well as working with my peers. It greatly influences my education, and just as through acting, I find I have more confidence on the field.”