Cool weather did not deter the bumps and spikes of two grade nine teens from Brooks Secondary School who brought a gold medal home from the opening tournament of beach volleyball season.
Paige Lawson and Maddie Yule were one of 132 teams that entered the Island High School Open in Parksville June 7, the largest high school beach volleyball tournament in the province. The two players from Powell River are members of the Aces team that took silver at a national indoor competition in Alberta last month.
Volleyball in Powell River, with coaching from Doug Skinner and Jay Yule, has become increasingly popular.
“It’s kind of the new big thing,” said Maddie, who started playing the sport while she was at Henderson Elementary School.
A record number of teams joined the beach volleyball tournament this year. Four grade nine girls’ teams and three grade eight boys’ teams from Powell River attended the match up.
Maddie said there is competition in high school volleyball between the girls and boys within the community.
Both Paige and Maddie said that playing beach volleyball was a great way to keep practicing their skills over the summer.
The girls explained that playing on the beach is slightly different to indoor volleyball. Players are more engaged because there are only two players to each team.
“We both support each other and stay positive,” said Maddie. The girls are close friends and have been playing indoor volleyball together for the past three years.
In Parksville, the matches of the playoff round were close in score and the team they were up against was really good, said Paige. When they won the third set of the final match they were both in a state of shock, said Maddie.
Dale Lawson, Paige’s mother, said that the tournament announcer, when announcing the girls’ win, also “gave a shout out to our girls for putting Powell River on the map for beach volleyball.”
The Island tournament was organized in round-robin fashion and Paige and Maddie competed in three matches with a total of six sets. The duo won five sets, which put them into the playoff rounds. They then won both sets of the first and second matches and in the third match lost on one set.
Paige and Maddie returned to Parksville the following weekend to compete in the Sand Series 1 tournament taking home second place.
They won every match which earned them a bye for the first playoff match, said Dale.
They played three matches and won the first and second, but fell in the third.
“It was a perfectly cloudy day for beach volleyball players, wind gusts made the game a bit more challenging at times and a little chilly for the spectators but the rain held off until we were headed for home,” said Dale.
The girls have a couple of weeks to practice before the Sand Series 2 in Parksville on July 5.
“We have plans to win,” said Maddie.
