Heather Bansley (born September 13, 1987)COC Profile
/ref> is a Canadian beach volleyball player, playing as a left-side defender. She has been named FIVB Best Defensive Player of the World Tour in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

University career

Bansley played CIS volleyball for the

Toronto Varsity Blues The Toronto Varsity Blues is the intercollegiate sports program at the University of Toronto. Its 43 athletic teams regularly participate in competitions held by Ontario University Athletics and U Sports. The Varsity Blues traces its founding to ...

for five seasons from 2005 to 2010 where she was a member of the 2009-10

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champions.

Pro career

Bansley and former partner

Sarah Pavan Sarah Lindsey Pavan (born August 16, 1986) is a Canadian beach volleyball and former indoor volleyball player. She was part of the Canada women's national volleyball team at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship in Japan. With Mel ...

were part of the Canadian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics. After qualifying for the

women's tournament A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

, 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

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and Valjas, which they won in straight sets of (21–16, 21–11). They lost to Germany's

Laura Ludwig Laura Ludwig-Bowes (born 13 January 1986) is a German professional beach volleyball player, playing as a defender. Previously forming a pair with compatriot Kira Walkenhorst, she represents Hamburger SV and has won four European championships. S ...

and

Kira Walkenhorst Kira Katharina Walkenhorst (born 18 November 1990) is a retired German beach volleyball player who played as a blocker. She has an older brother Alexander Walkenhorst who is a professional beach volleyball player and a younger sister Pia Walken ...

in straight sets of (14–21, 14–21) in the quarterfinals. 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. In 2018, they had a break-out year and closed the season ranked No. 1 on the FIVB world tour. Bansley and Wilkerson were named as part of the Canadian Olympic team for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, one of the nation's two entries in the

along with the team of Bansley's former partner Pavan and

Melissa Humana-Paredes Melissa Humana-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player, who is partnered with Brandie Wilkerson. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with Sarah Pavan at the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships. Early li ...

. 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. In the quarter-final they faced the Latvian team Kravčenoka/ Graudiņa, and were eliminated after losing two sets to one. Bansley announced her retirement in early 2022 and has joined the Canadian beach volleyball coaching staff, primarily working with their Next Gen program.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bansley, Heather Living people Pan American Games competitors for Canada 1987 births Beach volleyball defenders Sportspeople from London, Ontario Beach volleyball players at the 2011 Pan American Games Canadian women's beach volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic beach volleyball players for Canada FIVB World Tour award winners Toronto Varsity Blues volleyball players Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics