As a teacher and social worker, Guy Cousins likes to introduce students to different parts of the state. As a soccer coach he wants them to get good competition in scrimmages.

And as a Caribou native, Cousins wants his charges to get to know Aroostook County.

Last weekend’s trip to Fort Kent accomplished all three.

Cousins, who is coaching the Hall-Dale girls summer soccer team and coaches the Hall-Dale varsity, took 16 of his 27 summer squad members to the St. John Valley this weekend for scrimmages against the Fort Kent and Madawaska summer squads.

Although Hall-Dale lost both games, falling to Fort Kent 4-2 on Friday and Madawaska 7-3 Saturday, Cousins felt the team got a lot out of the trip.

“It’s great to introduce these kids to new places and different cultures,” he said. “The scores of the game were almost incidental to me. The games were just one part of the whole experience.”

That experience included lunch overlooking Mount Katahdin, a trip up Route 11, a pizza and birthday party, camping alongside the Fort Kent high school field, and a swim and picnic at Eagle Lake.

Cousins is a 1977 Caribou High graduate and a 1983 UMaine-Fort Kent graduate. He was connected with new Fort Kent varsity coach Kevin St. Jarre through Cousins’ friend and former opponent, Dan Cyr.

Cyr played at Presque Isle High and UM-Presque Isle. He’s now the girls soccer coach at Madawaska.

Hall-Dale was planning to come north anyway to a round robin tournament at Caribou High, which it did last year. But a scheduling conflict meant Cousins’ team couldn’t make it.

Cyr put Cousins in touch with St. Jarre and the two worked out a schedule that would give Hall-Dale two scrimmages.

Cousins organized five cars and four more parents to serve as chaperones. The team sold bottled water at Old Hallowell Day on July 15, raising $250 that was enough for lunch on the ride home and gas for the 570-mile round trip.

It’s a long drive, but Cousins said the team was eager to go after last year’s experience in Caribou.

Most of the team had never been north of Bangor, he said of the 2005 trip, and the girls “flipped out” when they saw all the potato fields on Route 1. The team stayed overnight in a building used by the Caribou High ski teams.

“After the experience they had last year there was no having to talk them into it this year,” Cousins said.

This time around, the Hall-Dale caravan took scenic Route 11 to Fort Kent.

The team camped out next to the soccer field at the high school.

“This took a little more planning [than staying at Caribou] but it was worth it,” Cousins said. “[Camping] was really a wonderful team-building experience.”

After the game the hosts threw a pizza party, organized by St. Jarre. As a thank-you to the Fort Kent team – and a way to celebrate the 15th birthday of Hall-Dale sophomore Ariel Howes – Hall-Dale offered up a sheet cake.

The next day Hall-Dale faced defending Eastern Maine Class C champion Madawaska. Cousins and his team left after the game, stopping in Eagle Lake for lunch and a swim. They were back home that night.

There’s already demand for Cousins to take a Hall-Dale group up to the County next summer.

“I also work with Hall-Dale youth soccer and the parents already want to know if we’re going to do it again next year,” he said.

Robinson likes young BC team

The Bangor Christian girls basketball team was extremely young last winter when then-coach Jim Coleman started three freshmen.

This summer it’s clear a season of experience under the belts of those youngsters has paid off. The Patriots will still be young this year, but new varsity head coach Phil Robinson has the Patriots clicking in the Bangor High summer league.

They’ve played well against Class D power Lee and even recently beat a Bangor High team, although Robinson cautions it likely wasn’t the Class A school’s complete varsity squad.

“They’re starting to come together pretty well,” Robinson said. “We competed with Lee a couple of times and with Bangor you never know who’s going to be there night to night, so I don’t think it was their full varsity.”

Bangor Christian graduated two regular starters, Kelly Miller and Jenn Hutchins, but returns sophomores Morgan Chasse, Hope Johnson and Kelly Robinson, who is Phil Robinson’s daughter. Those three girls, who were freshman last year, started frequently.

There was just one junior, Adrienne Ricci, on last year’s roster.

Phil Robinson said he likes what he sees so far, especially defensively.

“What we’ve been working on this summer is their man-to-man defense,” he said. “They’ve been primarily a zone team and I wanted them to improve in the man-to-man area. I think you have to play man in order to play zone.”

The Patriots also gained a transfer from Valley of Bingham. Morgan Staples, a 5-5 guard, started most of the season for the Cavaliers, who won the Western Maine Class D championship. Staples scored 10 points, including three 3-pointers in Valley’s 39-31 victory over Rangeley for the WM title.

“That will be a help to us,” Robinson said.

Robinson served as the Bangor Christian boys junior varsity coach for three years and was also a varsity assistant. He also helped coach the junior high boys team before moving over to the JV.

“It was a desire of mine to be a varsity head coach,” said the Hermon High graduate.

Coleman, a longtime AAU coach, said he resigned after just one season in order to watch his son, A.J., play basketball at Orono next year. A.J. attended middle school at Bangor Christian.

“I want to be able to watch him,” said Coleman, a Veazie resident. “He’s only got four years to go.”

The Patriots went 8-9 last year and finished 16th out of 23 teams in Eastern Maine Class D, one place out of qualifying for the tournament.

Coleman said he thinks the team can win 12 games in the upcoming season. Bangor Christian was just 3-15 in 2004-05.

“They’re going to be awesome next year,” he said.

Frost moves to Bangor Christian

Another Bangor Christian personnel change has former Brewer High boys basketball coach Jim Frost now the principal of the school on Outer Broadway.

Frost was the principal at Washington Street School in Brewer last school year and Brewer High principal the year before that.

He coached the Brewer boys basketball team from 1982 to 1986 and served as the interim boys basketball coach in 1999 at Calais High, where he also held a variety of posts including principal and athletic director.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.