Thalie Brossard

Five words you can use to describe yourself on the court.

• Accountable
• Focused
• Leader
• Excellent Communication
• Strategic

Five words you can use to describe yourself off the court.

• Organized
• Supportive
• Disciplined
• Motivated
• Passionate

Describe how you work in a team with your partners.

I’ve always worked well with all of my partners. I can adjust myself with everyone—a blocker, defender, or split blocker. Whoever I am playing with, I will find the best way to work and succeed together. Since I’ve started beach volleyball, I’ve always loved to change partners every few tournaments. I think it has made me a more flexible partner and, therefore, easy to work with. Working strategy on and off the court and playing different plays with my partner are probably the things I loved most about a great partnership. I would describe myself as a partner who takes more of the leadership role and communicates a lot. Without a doubt, I see leadership as a positive aspect of a partnership when things get more difficult and when a new strategy is needed. Encouraging, giving constructive feedback, and believing in your partner is very important to me in a partnership. Also, I think that holding myself accountable for my partner and trusting my partner’s decisions on the court is as important. I feel like excellent partnering always comes with trust, positivity, and outstanding communication.

Tournament highlights:

• 2021 Part of the Team Quebec in Beach volleyball
• 2021 Beach volleyball provincial championship U18- Third
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U18- First
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U18- First
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U18- First
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U18- Second
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U16 gold- First
• 2021 Beach volleyball tournament U18 gold- Third
• 2020 provincial Chamionship U15- Second
• 2020 Beach volleyball tournament U16- Second
• 2020 Beach volleyball tournament 16U- First
• 2020 Beach volleyball showcase tournament 16U silver – Third

My recent athletic highlight is to have been chosen among great players to train with Team Quebec all summer. I felt so happy and proud to make the team and motivated and determined to become a better player over the summer. Other highlights would be to win tournaments during the year, which I never thought would be achievable. I am proud that I persevere and keep pushing my mind and body during these challenging tournaments and seeing rewarded.

What are your interests outside of sports? Why do you like them?

My other interests outside of sport are mostly traveling, baking, and spending time with friends and family. I’ve traveled around the world since I was a child. My parents have always loved to travel, so they would bring my brother and I to many different countries to learn more about the culture, the people, the environment, the language, and basically all about the country. My family and I traveled to Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Guadeloupe, Martinique, France, Panama, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Costa Rica. We would do many activities like deep-sea diving, mountain climbing, rafting, fishing, zip-lining, and the list goes on. Traveling a dozen countries, has taught me to appreciate all that I have and that we are very fortunate to live in such a beautiful and peaceful country.

My other significant interest that I have been growing since I was eight years old would be baking. I’ve started baking for fun around this age and have been practicing ever since. I learned how to make desserts, pastries, loaves of bread, pies, homemade jams, and many more to come. With all this hard work and experience, I decided to open my own little bakery. It has been going for more than five years now, and my menu keeps growing every year. I mostly bake all summer long since my bakery is outside and it is freezing cold here in Canada during the winter. But, it keeps me very occupied all summer long because I have to make sure to buy all my ingredients, make all my online orders, calculate my profits and finally prepare and sell my items.

Who are your role models and why?

My beach volleyball role model is Melissa-Humana-Paredes. She is an extraordinarily unique Canadian beach volleyball defender. Not only she stands from all the other players by her exceptional talent, but because we can see her pure joy in playing beach volleyball.

My everyday role model is my mom and dad because they are the most hardworking and happiest people I know. They always find a way to make me smile and make the best out of every moment. I will always try to incorporate their joy and positive way of seeing life. I will always look up to them and hope to be as generous, pure, and happy as they are.

Involvement in other sports or extracurricular. Why is it important for you?

I think it is essential to discover and practice different sports and passions. It allows you to find other areas of interest, keep your mind of something, and allow you to grow in other mental and physical aspects. When I was younger, I used to play many sports. It helped me discover the many aspects between sports, as much individual than team sports. I did gymnastics, trampoline, dance, soccer, swimming, figure skating, horseback riding, track and field, hiking, and indoor and beach volleyball. Even though I train most of the year intensively in Florida, I still try to find time to do horseback riding, swimming, and hiking in the mountains.

Academic highlights and how you felt when you received them?

In my first two years of high school, I received two honorable mentions of distinction, two years in a row when I wasn’t doing online classes. I felt happy and proud but primarily felt accomplished to see my parents proud of me. It wasn’t a very common award because it was challenging to achieve it. I had to have all my subjects above 85%. So definitely, having these awards was important to me. Not to forget that I had more than 15 other certificates by different school subjects for being a respectable and effective student with high grades.

What program would you like to attend in school?

Growing up, my dream always had been to have my own little bakery somewhere close to my home in Quebec or Florida. So, since I was little, I’ve had a growing bakery in the north of Quebec with a full bakery menu. But, I want to expand and become a permanent bakery in the city. So, having my own business has always been one of my plans. Other than that, I have a few programs I am looking forward to attending in college. I am looking into nutrition-dieting, environmental science, business, and psychology. All seem interesting to me, and I’m looking forward to choosing which I would like the most in the following year.

How do you envision your school life in college/university?

I envision my college life to be complete with excitement, happy and memorable with moments as a thriving beach volleyball player and dedicated student. I am looking forward to attending a school where my personality, commitment and values accommodate the ambiance, culture and mindset of the staff, students and fellow teachers. I intend to make many new friends and work with my classmates and team to thrive at becoming the best version of myself. I hope to bring the beach volleyball team I will be part of to an even higher level of greatness, trust and stronger communication. I know this engagement will make me a very busy student. Still, with my motivation to become a flourishing player and effective student in additional to my discipline, independence, and organization, I believe I will succeed.

Académie les Estacades, Quebec, Canada

Would like to pursue a degree in Nutrition (dieting), Business, Psychology or Environmental Science

• Class of 2023
• 90% average
• 4.5 GPA / 5.0

Grade 7 & 8

• Two Honorable Mentions of Distinction
• 15 Mentions of Excellence in different subjects

Now taking online school

My beach volleyball career:
I started beach volleyball at the beginning of 9th grade, as I just finished my competitive
trampoline career. I went to Florida to train intensively with experienced players and
excellent coaches. I loved it so much and was highly motivated to become a better
player and get more skilled at this amazing sport. Since I loved my first year in Florida, I
decided to go back and train for another year. With practice and time, I became a little
more experience as a player and started winning more tournaments. Since then, my
goal has been to get recruited for a beach volleyball scholarship. In the summer of 2021,
as I got back to my hometown in Quebec, Canada, I decided to go to the tryouts to be
part of Team Quebec in beach volleyball. Happily surprised, I made the team! I got
chosen among 20 other talented athletes around Quebec. Being part of this brilliant
team included training six times a week with an olympian coach and former Olympic
athlete. I learned so much both mentally and tactically that I will carry this new
knowledge with me for the rest of my career!
Finally, I plan to go a third year in Florida to train hard and focus and hopefully get a
chance to get recruited. I am so excited to practice, play tournaments, and become a
complete athlete for the upcoming year.
A little side note, I am currently working extra hard in the gym to reflect my results on
the sand when I go back to Florida in early November.
Details to promote me as a great student-athlete:
I would make an excellent student-athlete because, since a young age, I always had to
deal with combining my sport and my school with a short schedule. So being
determined, discipline, and organize always has been my top qualities. Plus, I have been
doing online school since 9th grade. With homeschool, there is no doubt that you have
to stick to your priorities and keep yourself motivated while working with tons of
distractions. In conclusion, dealing with a charged schedule, staying on top of my school
work, and training have been in my life for the last three years. So I had to overcome
many difficulties and persevere with school and training, and that’s why I would make a
brilliant student-athlete.

2021 Beach Volleyball Events and Results

• Qualified for Junior East Coast Championship
  • AVP
  • Clearwater, Florida
  • November, 2021
• Quebec Provincial Championship U18
  • 3^rd place
  • Pointe Calumet, Quebec
•  U18 Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • 1^st place
  • Drummondville, Quebec
• U18 Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • 1^st place
  • Ottawa, Ontario
• U18 Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • 1^st place
  • St Agathe, Quebec
• U18 Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • Sherbrooke, Quebec
  • 1^st place
• AVP 2-star Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • 1^st place
  • U16
  • Riviera Beach, Florida
• U18 Beach Volleyball Tournament
  • 3^rd place
  • Vero Beach, Florida
• U18 Beach Event
  • 1^st place
  • Orlando, Florida

2020 Beach Volleyball Events and Results

Eastern USA Beach Volleyball Championships

• Clearwater, Florida

Quebec Provincial Championships U15 – 2nd place

Quebec Provinical Championships

• U15
• 2nd place

U16 Beach Event

• 2nd place
• Sherbrooke, Quebec

U15 Beach Event

• 2nd place
• Boucherville, Quebec

U16 Silver Showcase

• 3rd Place
• Clearwater, Flori

Trampoline High Performance Team

2017

• Quebec Provincial championships – Bronze Medal

2016

• Quebec Provincial Championship – Silver medalist
• Eastern Championship Synchronized – Gold medalist
• Eastern Championship Individual – Bronze medalist
• Eastern Championships Team – Gold medalist

2015

• Quebec Provincial Championship -4th place finish
• Eastern Championship Team – Gold medalist
• Eastern Championship Individual – Bronze medalist
• Eastern Championship Synchronized – Bronze medalist

2014 

• Quebec Games – Gold medalist