Morning Star Staff
A Vernon club volleyball team will be winging its way to a national championship tournament, thanks to support from the community.
The Sky Volleyball Club U15A girls recently hosted a sold-out fundraiser at Wings Tap and Grill and raised $6,000 toward attending the national championships, May 14-19, in Calgary.
The crowd was a mixture of volleyball families and corporate attendees.
“The team met the goal of raising funds for the trip,” said head coach Barb Hamilton, who gets help from assistant coaches Erin Hobkirk and Murray Kievit, and manager Paula Harned.
“All of us coaches and parents are so proud of our girls. Now we have to perform in Abbotsford at provincials and Calgary at nationals, both in May. You can be sure we will work very hard to attain our goals. These girls are focused and ready.”
The event began with a red carpet entry and champagne service. Canapés and other assortments of appetizers were provided by The Italian KItchen Company, followed by dinner.
The event had two MCs – Alex MacKinnon and Kalli Hamilton-Gee, both players on the team – who did a tremendous job running the evening.
The rest of the team cleared plates and made sure all the guests were comfortable.
“It was a great idea to include the athletes as servers and MCs of the event,” said Dan Currie, owner of Tim Hortons franchises in Vernon and Armstrong, and a longtime coach and supporter of Vernon volleyball. “It was such a great experience for our young athletes.”
The highlight of the evening was the keynote speech by Vernon professional cyclist Leah Goldstein, following the opening address by her business partner, Lori Moger.
Goldstein and Moger run a Vernon company called No Finish Line. Goldstein’s talk was an amazing summary of her life of no limits and overcoming many challenges but never giving up. Goldstein, 46, was the world kickboxing champion at 17. Shortly after, she enlisted in the Israeli Military and became one of the few female instructors of the elite Commando division. She has written a book on her life, set to be released in May.
The crowd was captivated by Goldstein for 40 minutes and her address truly inspired the adults and young athletes to never say never.
The silent auction was very strong – raising more than $2,000, highlighted by a national women’s club jersey donated by Vernon’s Brittany Page, a member of the national team who also trains with the Sky Club when she’s in town.
Mackinnon was the successful bidder.
“Brittany is truly a sweetheart to take the time to train with our girls,” said Hobkirk. “Not only did she train with them she went with all the girls to a private dinner and they laughed and joked all night – what a tremendous experience.”
Two of the bigger auction items were a Tuhle bike rack donated by Watkin Motors Ford and The Christina Lake Resort prize donated by Harned.
One of the first corporate tables booked was by Vernon Save-On-Foods store of the year manager Jim Tennant.
“We truly believe in locals helping locals,” said Tennant.
The main corporate sponsors for the event were Kal Tire, Inmed Pharma, National Bank Financial, The UPS store, Printech Printing Corp, Monaghan Engineering, Herbal Health Center, Goldwings Entertainment, Pathfinder Asset Management, Wings Tap and Grill and No Finish Line.
This was the second major fundraising event hosted by Wings and the volleyball club left a lasting impression.
“Those young girls are a real inspiration to everyone and Wings was proud to be involved,” said Katie Bellamy of the restaurant. “ I am not sure I can remember exactly what I was doing at age 14, but I am sure impressed with these young ladies.”
Team members include MacKinnon, Hamilton-Gee, Chelsea Rooseboom, Rose Harned, Ellen Van Buren, Lailah Akkurt, Ella Oduro, Taya Shepherd, Emily Dahl, Allison Hobkirk, Alyssa Racine and Dana Kievit. Sherman Dahl is the team’s chairman.
