EMILY HSUEH
SHAWVILLE March 24, 2021
After nearly two decades of hitting, pitching and coaching, a Pontiac High School alumnus and current teacher has been inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Matt Greer grew up in Shawville, having graduated from PHS in 2003. In his time at the high school, Greer was involved in . . .
several sports teams from soccer to volleyball to basketball, and even began coaching before he graduated.
“You know, I always played sports, but [the recognition] was never something that you’re really thinking of striving for. You’re just playing because you enjoy playing and enjoy competing and all that kind of stuff. It wasn’t really something that I saw on the radar,” Greer said of being recognized for his accomplishments.
The PHS athletic Hall of Fame was created by two teachers — Darcy Findlay and Chad Davis — and Greer has been inducted under the athlete category.
“It’s an honour to get recognized by the school that you attended, graduated from,” Greer said. “[It’s] also an honour when you look at some of the people that are getting recognition. There’s some pretty big names on there … It’s an honour, but it’s also kind of humbling at the same time.”
In addition to playing on a number of sports teams at PHS, he was also involved in school athletics from a mentoring position. While in his final year, he was invited to coach the junior girls basketball team, who went on to win the regional championship. He was encouraged by David Holmes, a long-time teacher and fellow Hall of Fame inductee, after seeing Greer’s involvement and dedication to the teams. He credits Holmes with kick-starting his love for coaching and working with others.
Greer’s coaching career continued for many years following his graduation from PHS in 2003. He kept coaching students at PHS for another five years before he met Ray Compas, who got him a coaching gig at Heritage College — where Greer remained the head basketball coach from 2011 – 2020 — and a supply teaching job at D’Arcy McGee High School in Gatineau.
“That’s where I really started to become passionate about coaching. And then I started supply teaching at D’Arcy McGee,” Greer recalled. “Then the principal there, George Sinfield … kind of took me under his wing and gave me all kinds of opportunities. And then he encouraged me to go back to teachers college.”
When the opportunity to teach at his old high school presented itself in 2019, Greer jumped on it. Now, he teaches grade 11 elective and grade nine English. But that does not mean he is out of the sporting world.
“I helped out with the various teams here at the school as well. Last year, I was helping Darcy with the hockey team, and I was running basketball clinics, and then everything got shut down. As well as helping out with the basketball team,” he said. “I’m hopeful to get our golf up and running. We tried to get that going in September, and that got shut down. That might be our first point of attack that Darcy and I are going to start trying to get going.”
Outside of the school setting, the teacher is making a big impact as well. In 2006, Greer jumped into fastball after attending the junior men’s Canadian championships with the Quyon Flyers. In the following years, he appeared at three more junior championships before joining the senior league, where he competed in more championship games.
He went on to play in 11 International Softball Congress championships, winning one and being named to the All-World team in 2012 and finishing second in 2014. He explained that those were some of the highlights of his athletic career.
“I would say, getting selected to the all-Canadian team nationals with Quebec with the senior men’s Quebec team. It was an individual moment, but it was an awesome moment,” he said. “Also in 2013 or 14, getting named to the Team Canada 40-man selection roster was kind of surreal. I was on that selection pool for I think four years … never broke through. But nonetheless, it was still awesome to be identified in that pool.”
Now, Greer is the organizer of Shawville’s fastpitch league which includes clinics to help develop pitchers and players in the area. He added that he did not realize how many opportunities there were outside of the Pontiac in terms of sports, and his journey into fastball was an eye-opener. He hopes to show kids that there are real opportunities in the sporting world that are viable paths to take.
“There’s tons of good athletes in our region, and we can show them that they could go play in the WNBA like Kelly Schumacher. Or they could go play some fastball outside of just Shawville and Quyon and the Pontiac, then that gives something for kids to kind of strive for and work towards.
“Take advantage of any opportunities and … look up to what others have done and realize that that’s something they can accomplish as well.”
