Chelsea McMullen thought the e-mail she had just received belonged in her spam folder.
Then, the 21-year-old Prince George product took a closer look. She quickly realized the message was from Sport BC, and that she was up for the organization's College Athlete of the Year award.
"I was like, 'OK, this isn't spam,'" she said with a laugh.
McMullen is a 2007 Kelly Road secondary school graduate who plays basketball for the Camosun College Chargers of Victoria. Her first season with the Chargers was 2009-10, and that's the campaign that got her nominated for the Sport BC honour.
In 2009-10, McMullen was a first-team all-star in the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association, MVP of the BCCAA provincial championship tournament, a Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Academic All-Canadian and a CCAA National Scholar. She was also a BCCAA athlete of the week and a CCAA athlete of the month.
McMullen said her individual success was made possible by the team environment in which she found herself.
"The coaching staff was really supportive and I really liked all the people on my team," McMullen said. "We all got along really well and it was a good year overall."
The Chargers were ranked fourth going into last season's provincials but upset McMullen's former team -- the UNBC Northern Timberwolves -- in the semifinal round. The Chargers went on to lose to the UBC Okanagan Heat in the final but advanced to the national championship tournament as a wildcard team.
This season, the Chargers are relatively strong again. Heading into weekend games against the visiting Timberwolves, they have an 8-5 record and are one spot behind fourth-place UNBC (10-3) in the standings. Not surprisingly, McMullen has been a Camosun leader most nights. In the league, she's currently fourth in average points per game (18.73) and ninth in average rebounds per game (7.09).
McMullen switched from UNBC to Camosun because her family moved to Victoria. She said, however, she still misses her old school and team. In her rookie season, 2007-08, she helped the Timberwolves win their first-ever BCCAA playoff title.
"I miss playing on that home court and all those people watching, but Victoria's been really good," she said. "We still get a lot of support. A lot of the school projects at Camosun are promoting our basketball games so we do get a lot of awareness."
Next school year, McMullen will continue her education at the University of Victoria and she'll most likely play basketball there. The UVic team competes in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, which is the highest level in the country. The thought of playing basketball in the CIS makes McMullen chuckle because, back in high school, her main sport was volleyball.
"When [UNBC basketball coach] Loralyn [Murdoch] recruited me, it was a shocker," McMullen said. "This [UVic opportunity] is just kind of going to the next step, I guess."
For the College Athlete of the Year Award, McMullen is up against Douglas College men's soccer player Reynold Stewart and UBC Okanagan women's volleyball player Alex Basso.
The award will be presented at Sport BC's annual gala, Feb. 24 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.
