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Heather Bansley

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Heather Bansley
Personal information
Born (1987-09-13) September 13, 1987 (age 37)
London, Ontario, Canada
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight64 kg (141 lb)
College / UniversityToronto Varsity Blues
Beach volleyball information
Years Teammate
2013-16
2016-21		 Sarah Pavan
Brandie Wilkerson
Best results
Years Location Result
2018
2018
2018		 Chetumal
Warsaw
Las Vegas		 1st
1st
1st
National team
Canada Canada

Heather Bansley OLY (born September 13, 1987)[1] is a Canadian beach volleyball player, playing as a left-side defender.[2] She has been named FIVB Best Defensive Player of the World Tour in 2015,[3] 2016[4] and 2018.[5]

University career

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Bansley played CIS volleyball for the Toronto Varsity Blues for five seasons from 2005 to 2010 where she was a member of the 2009-10 OUA champions.[6]

Pro career

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Bansley and former partner Sarah Pavan were part of the Canadian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[7][8] After qualifying for the women's tournament, the pair competed in Pool E and won all 3 matches with a 2–0 set score. For the Round of 16 match, they were paired with the other Canadian team of Broder and Valjas, which they won in straight sets of (21–16, 21–11). They lost to Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in straight sets of (14–21, 14–21) in the quarterfinals.[9]

Bansley and her next partner Brandie Wilkerson first competed together at the Swatch World Tour finals in Toronto (September 13–18, 2016), where they finished 9th.[10] In 2018, they had a break-out year and closed the season ranked No. 1 on the FIVB world tour.[11]

Bansley and Wilkerson were named as part of the Canadian Olympic team for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, one of the nation's two entries in the women's tournament along with the team of Bansley's former partner Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes. Bansley and Wilkerson struggled during pool play, recording two losses and one win, but advanced into the knockout stages due to being one of the top two "Lucky Loser" teams. In the Round of 16 they were the sixteenth seed, but unexpectedly upset the third-seeded American team of Claes/Sponcil by winning two sets to one.[12] In the quarter-final they faced the Latvian team Kravčenoka/Graudiņa, and were eliminated after losing two sets to one.[13]

Bansley announced her retirement in early 2022 and has joined the Canadian beach volleyball coaching staff, primarily working with their Next Gen program. [14]

In 2023, Sophie Bukovec reached out to Bansley to pair up. They competed in their first tournament together in Edmonton in July 2023. The duo would go on to win silver at the 2024 Recife Challenge, as part of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour.

In June 2024, Bukovec and Bansley qualified to compete for Canada at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

References

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  1. ^ COC Profile
  2. ^ "Players Details: Heather Bansley". Beach Volleyball Major Series. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  3. ^ "FIVB 2015 Womens Awards".
  4. ^ "FIVB 2016 Womens Awards".
  5. ^ "FIVB 2018 Womens Awards".
  6. ^ "2009-10 Women's Volleyball Roster, Heather Bansley". Toronto Varsity Blues. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  7. ^ Hossain, Asif (June 11, 2016). "Three beach volleyball teams earn Olympic berths". olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  8. ^ Wake, Bev (June 7, 2016). "Heather Bansley: A Q-and-A with the Olympic beach volleyball player". National Post. Toronto, Canada. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  9. ^ Merce, Greg (August 14, 2016). "Pavan and Bansley's Olympic run ends". The Record. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
  10. ^ Canada's Bansley, Wilkerson 2-0 as beach v-ball partners at World Tour event
  11. ^ "Wilkerson and Bansley Top Women's Beach Volleyball Rankins".
  12. ^ "Canadian beach volleyball duo Bansley, Wilkerson advance to quarter-finals at Tokyo Olympics". CBC Sports. CBC. July 31, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  13. ^ "Canada's Pavan, Humana-Paredes eliminated in Olympic beach volleyball quarter-finals". CBC Sports. CBC. August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  14. ^ "Two-time Olympian Heather Bansley announces retirement as a player".
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Media related to Heather Bansley at Wikimedia Commons

Awards
Preceded by Women's FIVB World Tour "Best Defender"
2015–2016 		Succeeded by
 Laura Ludwig (GER)
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