Iris Fletcher has spent a lot of time on the beach over the last few years, and it paid off with another Gold medal at Volleyball Canada’s Eastern Beach Nationals recently held in Toronto.
Iris trained in Port Stanley and London with Beach Volleyball Academy, and throughout the summer in Toronto with the Beach Team Ontario program. At just 14, she was the youngest member of Team Ontario.
Following last year’s 14U Division 1 title, Iris teamed up with Rachael Grove from Oshawa to win the 16U Division 1 Gold medal.
The Team Ontario coaches encouraged the new partnership and they quickly became a team to reckon with. They criss-crossed the province playing back-to-back tournaments to get as many as they could under their belt before Rachael left to tryout for the Indoor Provincial team.
As a testament to her athleticism and skill, Rachael spent most of her summer indoors on the 16U Team Ontario, eventually being selected for the Youth National team. In the meantime, Iris competed every weekend with multiple partners in various age divisions to stay on top of her beach game.
When Rachael returned to Ontario, the girls practiced whenever they could in preparation for Provincials and Nationals.
This was Iris’ fourth provincial tournament and she was excited for the competition. Being relatively new to the game of beach volleyball but never one to back down from a challenge, Rachael dedicated herself fully to their goals of medalling at 16U Provincials.
After two days of competition, Iris and Rachael were on the podium with a Bronze medal finish at the Provincial Championships, having lost to the eventual gold medalists.
Back to the beach, they went with their focus on Nationals. “Losing the semi-final at Provincials to a very strong team from the Pakmen club, gave us lots to work on in the lead up to Nationals,” said Rachael.
Just two short weeks later, they met that same team in the semi’s at Nationals and were able to pull out a 3-set win to put them in the Gold medal match.
“In our finals, we played another 3-set match against a very experienced and highly-skilled team but Rachael and I played our game, kept relaxed, and managed to win it all. It was quite a thrill to do it in back-to-back years,” said Iris.
“I was impressed that the girls were able to come together and perform at a very high level so quickly. Individually both Iris and Rachael are very talented but at this level, new partnerships usually take some time to foster. The girls focused really well after a tough semi final loss at the provincial championships to a very good team. They were able to play with a tremendous amount of composure and discipline throughout the Eastern National Championships and I really congratulate them for that,” said Shaun Furneaux from Beach Volleyball Academy who coached the girls throughout the tournaments.
It’s time now for both girls to set new goals for themselves as they join indoor teams in their regions.
