3 things I know for sure are that I love this sport, I love this team, and I love representing my country.
I don't know exactly where to begin since there is TONS I can say, so I’ll start all the way back at the beginning.
When I joined the team in May of 2013 it was going through a huge transition phase. Since then we’ve completely rebuilt from the ground up. Encountering many twists and turns on the journey. We’ve dealt with different perspectives and personalities along the way. Gained and lost athletes. Some with previous volleyball experience, and some having never played any version of volleyball. Ban (Nicole) came on as our head coach in early 2014. She saw our potential long before any of us did. And we slowly began to develop. Athletes began to commit. We trained more often. We competed at the 2015 Para Pan American Games in Toronto in August and qualified for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. More athletes came to the program. Then we began to train even more frequently. Early this past year in a hotel room in Oklahoma we created a vision statement for our team and laid the foundation for us to build on moving forward. We travelled to China, Montreal, England, and Toronto to train for Rio. We did sports psychology, nutrition, and media training sessions. We were in the gym getting stronger. We had training camp after training camp in Edmonton to see each other as often as possible. We invited the Netherlands out for some exhibition games in August. We did everything we possibly could to prepare for Rio. And it was awesome. It was more than any of us were ready for. But we didn’t achieve our goal of 5th or 6th. And that sucked. I distinctly remember the feeling of sitting in that change room after each game. The one that stands out to me by far was after our match against Ukraine. We went into that game 0 for 2, playing the number 3 team in the world with a lineup all over 6 feet tall. And we pushed them. First set, we pushed them to 20. We had never played like that. I had 100% confidence in myself and my teammates. I demanded the ball. I scored. I got blocked. I scored a different way. I frustrated one of the #1 players in our sport. I did that. And while I was executing my role, so was everyone else. There was no hesitation. Before that game I had never played completely without any doubts. But that day. That day we did everything we set out to do as a team. It may not have resulted in a win. But we pushed. We played our game. We trusted. We were completely free. And afterwards, in the change room, it was hard. Hard to have lost sets by 5 points when we knew that was 2 missed serves and a few smarter attacks. But someone, I don’t remember who, immediately said “guys, we just pushed one of the best teams in the world within 5 points, we surprised them, we challenged them, that's what we came here to do, we achieved our goal.” And it hit us. At least it hit me. That I couldn’t care less what it looked like from the outside, but that I knew we had done something huge. We had achieved a goal we talked about so long ago. And when we finally got there, our potential seemed so much more. We had raised our bar without even realizing it.
It really is amazing to see how far we’ve come by looking at where we started. Through it all we learned more than we thought possible. We learned to stand behind our teammates at all times. To keep each other accountable. To hold each other to the standard we had created. To speak to teammates with varying communication styles. To strive to be the best versions of ourselves at all times. And if we failed, that that was okay, because we had 11 other people to pick us up. We learned to listen to each other. To really hear what our teammates were saying. To trust each other on and off the court. We learned that being vulnerable was the only way that we would succeed. Admitting to each other when we were struggling, lacking confidence, doubting ourselves, losing focus, or getting frustrated was the biggest and hardest lesson of all. I was finally able to turn to my teammates on the court and say “I’m so frustrated with that block, I can’t hit around it”, and believing them entirely when they replied with “Yes you can, remember how you figured it out in practice against Ian? Yes you can.”
We learned what it truly means to be a team. To commit to something bigger than ourselves.
Day by Day
August 27 – 31 - Staging Camp – Toronto – York – Humber High School
- practiced twice a day for 3 days
- some of the men’s team came and trained with us
- send off event at West Park Rehabilitation Center
- team photos with yellow laces for childhood cancer awareness (Jolan, Danny, and myself are childhood cancer survivors)
- team dinner at Joey’s
August 31 - September 1 – Travel Days
- night flight meant leaving late from hotel
- Air Canada had upgraded all of Team Canada to 50K Elite status
- checked in at YYZ at private Air Canada counter
- send off party at a private gate with most of Team Canada
- 11pm departure
- 9.5 – 10 hour flight
- arrival around noon
- received our accreditation’s
- 45min bus ride to Athletes Village
Sept 1
- arrived at village
- got to our condo – building 10 (about 30ish buildings in total)
- got to our rooms – checked out new clothing package/suitcase
- explored village: dining hall, recreation center, outdoor eating area, gym, medical center, pools, village bus, walking path
Sept 2 - 4
- practice every morning
- scrimmage with USA one of the days
- lunch
- pool in the afternoon
- chill evenings
Sept 5 – Cristo Redentor
Sept 6 – practice & Team Canada Welcome Ceremony in the village
Sept 7 – Opening Ceremony
- transport at 2pm – about 1.5 hour drive
- waiting in queue for hours at Maracana Stadium
- marching through tunnel and around stadium
- all the countries walk in
- ceremony
- leave, bus back, late night
Sept 8
- video on Brasil
- practice
Sept 9
- game day vs. Brasil
- Shacarra’s 20th birthday
- my 5th diagnosiversary
- 6:30 match
- didn’t go as planned – we put high expectations on ourselves
Sept 10
- video on Netherlands
- practice
Sept 11
- game day vs. Netherlands
- went to Canada house in the evening to see family and friends
Sept 12
- video on Ukraine
- practice
Sept 13
- game day vs. Ukraine – best game yet
- my personal best performance
- best team performance
Sept 14
- video on Rwanda
- practice
Sept 15
- game day vs. Rwanda
- won in 3 sets for 7th place
- watched both women’s semi finals
Sept 16
- beach day by parents hotel
- wheelchair rugby game CAN vs AUS
Sept 17
- shopping – Nike store for Brazil gear
- watched bronze and gold medal women’s games
Sept 18
- watched mens bronze and gold medal games on TV in our cafe
- Closing Ceremony
- transport at 4pm to Maracana Stadium
- ceremony 7-10ish
- Team Canada block party in village
- pizza and beer and wine
- lots of trading clothing J
Sept 19
- packed everything
- checked into flight in Team Canada building – sent our suitcases away
- relaxed
- BinLaden’s – local bar
Sept 20
- last lunch in village dining hall
- left village at 2pm
- luggage had been checked the previous day so we just had carry-on’s
- departed at 8pm
Sept 21
- arrived in Toronto around 8am
- arrived in Edmonton early afternoon
- slept a lot
- did a lot of laundry
- slept some more
Back in Edmonton
- September 23rd - welcome home ceremony at West Gate CIBC
- 1st weekend of November – visited Parliament in Ottawa and meeting Justin Trudeau with all of Team Canada
- November 8th - Legislature in Edmonton meeting Rachel Notley and the Minister of Culture and Tourism
- November 21 - recognition event with the City of Edmonton at City Hall meeting Don Iveson
- November 24th - spoke at the 2A girls high school volleyball provincials banquet
Favorite Parts
- the Brasilian people – passionate, loud, hospitable, loving, caring, welcoming, friendly
- the atmosphere – positive, happy, competitive, bigger than us
- the village – a place where disability is the norm, met, saw, and talked to SO many people from SO many different countries
- the giant Agitos in the village (from the Latin meaning “I move”) encircling a central point symbolize motion, emphasize the role of the Paralympic Movement in bringing athletes together from all corners of the world to compete
Fun Facts About The Paralympics
- just over 4300 athletes
- 23 sports
- 528 events over 11 days
- 225 medals for women, 265 medals for men, and 38 mixed medals
- 162 delegations
- including the Refugee Paralympic Team – created to protect athletes affected by international crisis – compete under the Paralympic flag (ex. Syria)
