Delta’s McNamara Sisters On A Roll

Delta’s Megan and Nicole McNamara grew up playing a number of sports: Ringette, softball and soccer, but they found themselves volleying the soccer balls at soccer practice and  from there it was a winning combination.

The twin sisters first started playing volleyball at South Pointe Academy while in Grade 5, but it was during a family adventure to Mexico where the beach volleyball seed was sown.

Living in Puerto Vallarta (then 12 year olds) Nicole and Megan were on the beach with a volleyball every day after school and with no formal training to speak of and no formal coaching the girls developed their beach skills and love for the game.

Following their return, Nicole and Megan started playing competitive beach volleyball and have since won every single Volleyball BC youth tournament they have played in.

Megan and Nicole McNamara topped their pool early on Friday at the FIVB U19 World Championships by defeating Germany’s Leonie Welsch and Constanze Bieneck 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) in a direct match for first place in pool A.

As expected it was a tough match with great rallies. It was point-by-point in the first set until the Canadians scored two points coming from 19-19. In the second set the twins took a three point lead in the middle, but the Germans fought back to reach set point at 20-18.

The McNamaras stayed calm though, levelled at 20-20 and claimed the match and first place on their second match point. “We just stayed calm and fought hard for the side-outs”, said Nicole. Her sister Megan added: “It was for first in the pool, so it was nerve wracking, but in the end it worked out well.”

Right after the winning point, there was a big ‘happy birthday’ coming from the stands. It was mom McNamara, who gave birth to the twins exactly 17 years ago.

Megan stated “Our parents and grandparents came over and they just wanted to come and watch us play and they had never been to Portugal and as it happened we had to play on our birthday.”

Following the match they were given a (birthday) present from the players of Namibia – their national cap and they stated “Of course it is nice to win on our birthday and we definitely did not want to lose, so it made us work that much harder.”

“But it is nice to have the bye into the second round of play-offs, to have the rest of the day off”, said Megan. Nicole: “Because in Cyprus we lost in the first round of play-offs, so we have already beaten our last finish.”

The U21 World Championships in Cyprus last week was their first ever FIVB event where they twins finished 17th.

“For sure with the nerves”, said Megan. “Because we already gotten that one. We were super nervous at the beginning in Cyprus, but here we just knew what to do and it’s more familiar now.”

And this in only the start of their beach volleyball career, they are enrolling in the American beach volleyball programme to play in the college competition.

“We are verbally committed to UCLA in Los Angeles”, said Nicole. “Even before volleyball, our dream was California, so it worked out perfectly. There is really not a better place to play volleyball than California. We have given up indoor for this next year.”

For now the twins are going to enjoy a well deserved rest with their family with more matches over the long weekend where Nicole stated “We are going to have a nice family dinner, with cake of course.”

Megan and Nicole both graduated and were both “A” students at SDSS and are hoping to earn NCAA Scholarships at a US university.

Kiwanis Club of Tsawwassen president Larry Rossiter presents the 2013 Kiwanis Delta Memorial Sports Award to volleyball standouts Nicole and Megan McNamara. The $2,000 bursary will help with travel and training costs.