Multi-sport athlete and coach
Kingston’s Alle Arsenault has been a constant presence on the fields in and around Kingston since high school.
Arsenault, 23, has been a dominant force in field hockey and rugby. She is also a world-class powerlifter.
Her love of sports and competition was grown at Holy Cross Secondary School where she played rugby, field & ice hockey, softball and boy’s lacrosse, and also participated in track & field and wrestling.
Photo credit: Adam Smith / St. Lawrence College
“Field hockey was a sport I succeeded in a bit more in high school,” says Arsenault. “I captained the team for a few years and I ended up getting some Division One scholarship opportunities out of it but I ended up sticking around Kingston.”
She also competed at the World Power lifting championships in 2019. Arsenault performed three main lifts – squat, bench and deadlift – with three attempts on each lift to try to maximize the weight lifted.
She finished second overall in the competition, having placed second in both squat and bench lift and third in the dead lift.
Arsenault studied behavioural science while at St. Lawrence College on a rugby scholarship and also took the police foundations online course there.
But, she admits, “I wasn’t always the biggest fan of sitting in the classroom. I like to go play the sports.” While at the college, she also played ice hockey and badminton for the St. Lawrence Surge.
Photo credit: Adam Smith / St. Lawrence College
Now that she has started her career in law enforcement, Arsenault hopes to balance the responsibilities of local policing while still pursuing her passions of playing, coaching, and officiating sports.
“I always loved working with the community and coaching,” she says.
She is currently an official with Rugby Ontario. “I ref more that I coach but it’s kind of nice to do a bit of both,” says Arsenault.
There is a lot of running in officiating rugby, as aspect of the sport Arsenault appreciates. “That’s why I like it so much because I still get to exercise and be around the sport I love.”
She has also coached field hockey in Kingston and for Field Hockey Ontario; coached rugby at St. Lawrence College this fall; and coached ice hockey at Holy Cross for the last few seasons. Amid all those commitments, she has also found time to take part in local “how to skate” and play hockey groups.
Photo credit: Adam Smith / St. Lawrence College
Arsenault says she absolutely loves to coach.
The smile on the kids’ faces who have enjoyed you helping them, when you arrive at the rink – or field – and they’re excited to see you, that is worth it all.
“Sports were a huge part of my life growing up, and they still are. So, I really enjoy being able to get players – whether they are trying a new sport or have been playing it for a couple of years – to just loving it as much as I do.”
And sometimes that means helping a player through their struggle as an athlete, and not getting bogged down in negativity about their performance.
Photo credit: Ian MacAlpine
“Especially at the college level or even younger, they mess up once and they think they’re horrible,” she says, “but they need to learn to push through that and keep fighting. To be able to succeed at the end is the biggest kind of reward.”
“It’s nice to be able to see other people go through what I did and to be able to help them through it in ways that certain coaches helped me.”
