LEADING BY EXAMPLE
SRA’s Thibault exceptional on, off soccer field
jbaker@pawtuckettimes.com
PAWTUCKET – Marc Thibault sits at his office desk at St. Raphael Academy, where he presides as the Dean of Student Life, and laughs when asked what his son, Brady, was like as a child.
“I’ll tell you, he was really focused – and very driven,” he stated. “He played every sport you could think of, and he worked so hard.”
He hesitated, then offered, ‘Boy do I have a story for you. When he was about five years old, my wife (Brenda) said, ‘Why don’t you go check in on Brady? It’s awfully quiet up there.’ I walked into his bedroom, and he was intently engaged on something he was watching on TV. I figured it would be cartoons, like Spongebob Squarepants or something like that.
“I look down, and he’s riveted to the History Channel,” he added. “He was watching a show about the D-Day Invasion in Normandy and the beginning of World War II for the U.S. Brady started teaching me about how the Allied forces had stormed the Utah and Omaha beaches. I was, like, OK.
“I walked outside his bedroom door, and my wife said, ‘So what’s he doing?’ I started laughing and told her, ‘He’s not watching cartoons, that’s for sure. Then I said, ‘This kid is going to be an Army general someday, mark my words.’
“He’s just always had that passion.”
Brady Thibault still does, and that’s why he’s going to graduate as one of the finest, most decorated seniors in his SRA Class of 2018.
The Coventry native has a list of accolades that would make a rocket scientist blush, and it starts with what he calls his finest – and most disgruntling – memory to date as a Saint.
A tri-captain and key defender (not to mention an occasional center midfielder) of the SRA soccer team (with fellow standouts Sebastian Romero and Hector Padilla) last fall, he helped his teammates manufacture a run for the Division III championship. After upsetting Ponaganset in a semifinal, they sustained a devastating 1-0 regulation defeat to Cranston East in the title tilt at Rhode Island College.
“It really hurt, especially when you strive for four years to get there and come up just short,” the young Thibault stated rather stoically. (You soon learn upon speaking to him he has a guarded persona, despite the fact his want to live by The Golden Rule is evident in virtually every endeavor, favor and task that comes his way).
“My freshman year, we went to the quarters and lost to PCD, 1-0; when I was a sophomore, we lost to Scituate in PKs (penalty kicks), 5-4, and the game, 2-1,” he continued. “Last year, we lost to Pilgrim in another quarter in PKs. It went seven rounds, but we finally lost, 3-2.
“We had always talked about winning a state championship when we were younger, but we as seniors didn’t talk much about it this (past) season. We felt we could do it. We only had three seniors, but we had a lot of younger guys who we knew could really play. We worked really hard to get there, but came up short.
“It was upsetting.” He hesitated, then continued, “I think overall it was a good season (SRA closed with an overall mark of 12-55 after placing seventh in the league, but snatching a state runner-up plaque). We started off slow at the beginning, but then got on a roll and started to peak late and into the playoffs.”
Noted his dad, an assistant under chief architect Frank Balcarcel: “He was our muscle in the middle of the field. He handled all the gritty work. He’s been playing lacrosse since fourth grade, so he brought that LAX toughness to the position.”
His impressive list of athletic achievements doesn’t end there. He started varsity four years on the soccer pitch, captaining the team as a junior and senior, and garnered All-Division first-team honors both years, too. This past fall, he earned a second-team All-State laurel, not to mention a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Scholar-Athlete Team.
Head coach Frank Balcarcel and his boys voted Thibault the team’s Most Valuable Player as a senior, that after being selected the squad’s Rookie of the Year as a freshman and its Best Defender as a sophomore. As a junior, he received the Varsity Coaches Award.
He was also named the R.I. Interscholastic League’s Student-Athlete of the Month in Nov. 2016 and last December.
According to his dad, he began playing his favorite sport when he was three, and by the eighth grade had begun representing the R.I. Olympic Development Pro- gram Travel Team. He since has played for New England Football Club, Bayside FC and GPS-R.I. squads from eighth to 11th grade.
“When school begins, I have to come in an hour early as a faculty member, and because we live in Coventry, Brady comes with me,” Marc Thibault offered. “During soccer season, he’d be out of the car and beeline for the weight room. I didn’t have to say a word to him. And, in the winter, he did the same thing, and he’s doing it now to get ready for lacrosse.
“The kid is so driven.” Noted Balcarcel: “Brady defines discipline. He doesn’t talk much, but that’s because he’s so focused. I’ve talked to him, but he doesn’t initiate conversation. He likes to observe and listen, and that’s what makes him so special.
“When he does talk, you listen because you know what he’s saying has value, it’s something meaningful,” he continued. “When I’m coaching him, he listens intently because he wants to learn so badly, and he’s so respectful. On the soccer field, he leads by example. You know, there were a few times where, after games, I found out he had flu-like symptoms and probably should have been home in bed, but he was always out there, busting his butt playing hard and trying to improve for the team.
“What doesn’t help him is his size; he’s not real big, but his heart is huge, and he’s so coachable. I really think his junior year was his best year because he read the game so well. If I told him he shouldn’t cheat as much to the outside, he listened; he did what I told him.
“When he first came in, we didn’t have a very strong team, but as we started bringing in kids with more talent, he knew he had to change his game in accordance with that. Because of that, he was a key cog in the building of that perennial playoff-bound program.
“He’s a truly special, talented, disciplined kid who’s going to go places.”
Nowadays, he’s gearing up for his final campaign as a member of the PCD/SRA boys lacrosse team.
Academically, he’s just as gifted. He currently holds a 4.0 GPA, and has belonged to the National Honor Society since his junior year. He also is a member of the Academic All-State Team, and captured the prestigious Joseph Avila Book Award, which was given by the R.I. Soccer Coaches Association to only three student-athletes statewide.
It’s given for outstanding talent and leadership in the academic and athletic fields.
He’s also gained Honor Roll status as a freshman, sophomore and senior, and served as the Student Council secretary this past year. Thibault has been a Lasallian Youth all four years, and was involved as a Peer Minister this year, not to mention a National Honor Society History Ambassador.
“I like to lead by example,” Brady said. “I’m not a yeller; I don’t like doing that, so I’m a quiet leader. If something isn’t being done correctly, I’ll pull someone aside and talk to them one-on-one.”
According to the elder Thibault, he gave his son the option when he was in eighth grade as to where he would attend high school – his hometown Coventry or St. Raphael, where his dad had just started started working.
“I told him I wanted to go to Saints because of the academics, the athletics and my faith; I also wanted to play for Coach B,’” he said with a rare grin. “I knew him a little because he and my dad were friends. I just wanted to go to a Catholic school and take Theology classes, and go to church once a month as part of my schooling.”
It doesn’t end there, as he has spent all four scholastic years serving the community, delivering Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to the needy; raising funds for National Disaster Relief; collected money and goods for the R.I. Food Bank, Holy Family Church Soup Kitchen, the American Red Cross, American Kidney Foundation, Books and Bags for the Homeless, Ronald McDonald House and American Cancer Society.
Now that graduation is right around the corner, he’s preparing himself to move on. He’s already been accepted to Rhode Island College and Bridgewater State University, and is still awaiting word from Providence College.
“I wanted to study criminal justice, and try out for the soccer team, but my special interest is in the Army ROTC,” he explained. “I want to become involved in that because I feel it’s a stepping stone to the military, which is something I’ve always been attracted to.
“Ever since I was a little kid, I loved it; I was fascinated by it. I like the discipline and what it stands for. I want to serve my country.”
He eventually would like to become involved, he stated, in counter intelligence, but – for now – is just interested in getting supreme grades and helping his lacrosse team get off to a great start.
“Last year, we lost in the first round of the (D-III) playoffs, so my goal this season is to make the tournament, qualify for the championship and win it,” he said. “I’d love to go out with at least one state championship, I’m going to keep striving for it.”