Teen trio joins forces on Summer Games courts
The 14-member Zone 3 girls volleyball team competing in this weekend's BC Summer Games includes three Langley players
Emma Kastelein, Avery Heppell, Nicole Chevrier, all Langley residents, are on their way to the BC Summer Games for indoor volleyball after being selected from 55 of the region's best players.
Photograph by: Photo submitted , for Langley Advance
It'll be another exciting moment for three Langley volleyball players who are competing at the BC Summer Games in Surrey this weekend.
Nicole Chevrier, Emma Kastelein, and Avery Heppell all made the Zone 3 indoor volleyball team going for gold at the Games.
They made the team not just because they are all more than 6' tall, but because they are among the most skilled players in their zone.
All three live and attend school in Langley with Chevrier and Kastelein entering Grade 10 this September and Heppell heading into Grade 9.
They were selected during a grueling multi-session tryout that went on for almost two weeks.
About 55 elite players from Langley, Surrey, Abbotsford, White Rock, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Port Moody and several other areas attended the U15 tryouts for Zone 3, a zone that is home to some of the top teams in B.C. and to many of the province's best players, so the competition was very strong.
In the end the big group was narrowed down to 14 players, including the three local girls.
All three play as middles on the court and are known for big blocks and powerful hits at the net.
They also play beach volleyball (two-versus-two in the sand), and play for their high schools each fall, providing them with added training in the offseason period from their competitive club teams.
All three have played on the same squad in the past but last year, for a variety of reasons, played on different teams. This had them staring through the net and battling each other as competitors but now they get to play together again, and they're all excited to do so.
Volleyball runs in the family for these three, who all have family members also achieving volleyball success at their respective ages, from being MVPs, to making university teams, and everything in between.
For Kastelein, Chevrier, and Heppell, the next step is striving to win a medal at the Summer Games but they also have bigger long-term goals.
They all want to win a provincial championship, maybe a national title, play volleyball at university, and perhaps one day play for the women's national team.
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The BC Summer Games run from July 19-22 at several venues around Surrey with the indoor volleyball being played at Semiahmoo Secondary.
