MEGAN AND NICOLE MCNAMARA
SPORT: Volleyball
SCHOOL: South Delta
FRESHMEN’S FUTURE: UCLA
TSAWWASSEN — Maybe the most surprising thing you’ll hear about Nicole (left) and Megan McNamara is, that despite being in the spotlight of their sport since the start of their high school volleyball careers, they still aren’t fully accustomed to all of the attention they receive.
“We still get nervous,” admits Megan, right-handed and the mirror-twin of southpaw sister Nicole. “We’re both pretty camera shy.”
Superstars who helped lead the South Delta Sun Devils to three straight B.C. senior high school indoor high school championships at the Tsawwassen school, they carry credentials many notches above that in the two-person outdoor game.
With the sand between their toes, the McNamaras have been a near-unbeatable international duo, writing their ticket to a southern California future that has seemed like their destiny since the pair teamed up to win the Canadian Under-16 national beach title in the summer after their eighth-grade year.
Beginning in the fall, they will embark on collegiate careers in Los Angeles at UCLA, a pair of Canadian Bruins ready to test anyone’s notion that the beach game, at its highest levels on this continent, is the exclusive provenance of California girls.
“All of our teammates are from southern California so it will be interesting for two Canadian girls,” says Nicole, who was named B.C. championship tournament MVP over both her Grade 11 and 12 seasons.
It all started innocently enough for the twins, who discovered their love for the sport at around the age of five.
“We would always vacation in Mexico,” remembers Megan. “We’d be in Puerto Vallarta and we just started passing the ball around.”
You need to get out your globe to follow where that ball has bounced in the years since.
With high school just ending for the sisters, they have already competed on four continents, highlighted by this past August when they competed in back-to-back events in both Europe and Asia, with a return to Tsawwassen sandwiched in-between.
“We came home from Portugal and had eight days before we left again for China,” explains Megan.
The twins battled their way to the bronze medal at the U-19 World Beach Volleyball Championships in Portugal, then forged silver at the Youth Olympics in China.
“We felt so proud being able to represent Canada,” says Megan, who capped her Sun Devils career as a three-time provincial tourney all-star. “And China was the most amazing experience because it was a multi-sport event and we were able to be in the athlete’s village. It was inspiring meeting so many high-calibre athletes.”
Says Nicole: “We’ve had such a great time playing in high school with all of our best friends, but now we’re really excited to graduate and move on to UCLA. I think it’s going to be easier for us down there because we have each other.”
