鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to be marching behind your flagbearer and I鈥檓 proud to be wearing the Island-Central Coast Zone jersey,鈥� said Hannah May, a rising beach volleyball player from Victoria.
Maybe next it will be the sa国际传媒 jersey at the sa国际传媒 Games and, who knows, perhaps the sa国际传媒 marching kit for the best of these emerging athletes in future Olympics, Commonwealth and Pan Am Games.
You have to begin somewhere, and a lot of athletes with bigger dreams have started their multi-sport event journeys in the sa国际传媒 Games.
鈥淭here is so much going on . . . this feels different than a [single-sport] provincials or nationals,鈥� said May.
Twenty-three alumni from the sa国际传媒 Games are headed to Rio next month for the 2016 Summer Olympics. They include the likes of Island athletes Hilary Caldwell in swimming, Michael Mason in high jump, Kirsten Sweetland in triathlon and Jamie Broder in beach volleyball.
鈥淏each volleyball is my passion and I really look up to those players like [Broder],鈥� said May.
May鈥檚 sister Gracie is also competing in the sa国际传媒 Games at Abbotsford, but in indoor volleyball.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very competitive and are always competing against each other,鈥� said Hannah May. 鈥淏ut we do different things well. I鈥檓 better defensively and Gracie is better offensively.鈥�
The May sisters are among 460 participants in Abbotsford from the Vancouver Island-Central Coast team, of which 213 are from Greater Victoria. That includes athletes, coaches and support staff, which points out the substantial logistical operation this entails.
The May sisters are part of the Victoria Volleyball Association Black squad that has won the provincial title three years in a row and the Belmont team that captured the sa国际传媒 junior high school volleyball crown last school season. With Hannah heading into Grade 11 and Gracie into Grade 10, Belmont looks to be poised for championships at the senior secondary level, as well.
The 2016 sa国际传媒 Summer Games run through Sunday. The last time they were held in Abbotsford, in 2004, the athletes included Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn from Central Saanich, not on the ice but on the baseball diamond, eventual Olympic-medallist cyclist Gillian Carleton from Victoria and Canadian national-team volleyball power-hitter Shanice Marcelle of Victoria.
The Games connection comes full circle with Marcelle now a mentor to the May sisters: 鈥淪hanice drops into our practices and gives us so many tips,鈥� said Hannah May.
The new generation in Abbotsford includes the likes of 15-year-old breakthrough golfer Nolan Thoroughgood of Royal Colwood, the Royal Bay student last week crowned the youngest winner in the 114-year history of the sa国际传媒 Men鈥檚 Amateur Championship. It鈥檚 been a whirlwind week for Thoroughgood. He was the guest of honour on men鈥檚 night Wednesday at Royal Colwood. The next morning, he was part of the large group picked up at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre and bused and ferried to Abbotsford for the Games. The Games golf tournament will be played Saturday and Sunday at Ledgview.
