Back in 2015, when Prince George hosted the Canada Winter Games, Macyn Unger and Chris Zimmerman were young teenagers, just starting to carve their reputations as exceptional high school volleyball players.
Seven years later they have accomplished what only a select few athletes will in their sporting careers when they represent B.C. next month at the 2022 Canada Summer Games in the Niagara region of Ontario.
Unger, 18, and Zimmerman, who turns 18 on Aug. 3, both made the final cuts for their respective women’s and men’s provincial teams after playing last weekend at the Canada Cup in Calgary. They will play for Team BC at the Canada Games, Aug. 16-21, in St. Catharines, Ont..
“I’m super-excited, I’m looking forward to continuing playing with my team, It’s a really good group of girls, I feel, and I just like being with them,” said Unger, a Simon Fraser University NCAA recruit. “Getting to see all the other sports should be fun. It was really exciting watching the Games when it was here and I’m excited to get to compete now it’s my turn.”
Unger’s 18U B.C. team went 5-3 at Canada Cup and finished fifth, losing a chance to play for medal with a quarterfinal loss to Manitoba, the eventual champions.
“It was a really cool atmosphere there and we got to play all the other teams and get a feel for how they are before heading into Niagara,” said Unger.
Unger spent eight days training six hours per day on the court with her B.C. teammates to prepare for Canada Cup, which served as their final tryouts for the provincial team. Team BC assistant coach, Gina Schmidt, is the head coach at SFU in Burnaby, where Unger is enrolled in general studies with plans to branch into business administration.
“It’s definitely been a big dream of mine to get to continue playing and I feel like I really have a great opportunity,” said the five-foot-eight libero. “In NCAA you’re only eligible to play for four years and I’ll go to school for five, so the first year I’m red-shirting. I’ll get to go to pre-season tournament in Washington and San Diego at then I’ll just go to games and sit on the bench and cheer but I won’t get to play.
“I think it’s good for my first year to get the feel of it and just practice and get to know everything before heading off on tournaments.”
Zimmerman’s 18U men’s team also had its Canada Cup title hopes derailed in the power pool Saturday with losses to Ontario and by Manitoba. They went 5-3 and finished fifth. From a squad of 18 players in Calgary, a team of 12 will fly the BC flag at Canada Games.
Zimmerman said watching the 2015 Canada Games as a spectator gave him a taste of what he can expect as a participant this year – the culmination of his four-year experience as part of Team BC.
“My family and I watched as many sports as we could and went to the opening and closing ceremonies and getting to see that was one of the coolest experiences,” Zimmerman said. “Ever since then, that’s why it’s been such a big goal for me to get to go. I’ve been looking forward to this for the past four years building up to this.”
Having the tournament in Ontario will allow Zimmerman’s Queen’s University coach, Gabe DeGroot, to watch him in action and he’ll be playing against one of his future Gaels teammates on Team Ontario. As the setter, Zimmerman quarterback his team’s offence and his six-foot-three height makes him that much more valuable with his ability to block at the net.
“It’s fun, that’s one of my favorite parts, I really like making the decisions and being the person to run the show a bit, it’s something that comes naturally to me,” said Zimmerman. “I’m definitely taller for setters but when I’m at those tournaments I feel super-short.
Queen’s is a young team that medalled in the Ontario Athletic Union and qualified for nationals the past three years. The Gaels starting setter this season has just one year of U SPORTS experience and Zimmerman hopes to push him for playing time as a rookie. He will study political science and wants to eventually get into the law program.
Unger and Zimmerman have become good friends after years of playing in the same gym at Duchess Park Secondary School and they will travel together on the Team BC chartered flight that leaves for Canada Games Aug. 14. An estimated 5,000 athletes, coaches and officials are expected for what will be the largest sporting event in Canada this year.
“We’ve been through this whole Team BC experience together, kind of, the last few years so it’s nice to culminate it with the Canada Games before we both go off to school,” said Zimmerman.
Two other Prince George athletes – Theo Clarke and Jeremy Weaver, both Duchess Park students, played for separate B.C. teams in the 17U men’s tournament at the Canada Cup. Weaver was with Team BC Blue, which went 6-2 and finished third. Clarke was part of Team BC Red, which ended up with a 3-5 record, losing in the bronze-medal match 3-1 to BC Blue.
