Melissa Humana-Paredes (born October 10, 1992) is a Canadian

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player, who is partnered with

Brandie Wilkerson Brandie Wilkerson (born July 1, 1992) is a Canadian beach volleyball player who plays as a right-side blocker. With teammate Heather Bansley, she achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 1 in November 2018. She is the 2018 FIVB Best Block ...

. Humana-Paredes won the women's gold medal with

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 Meli ...

at the

2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in Hamburg, Germany from 28 June to 7 July 2019.

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Humana-Paredes is the younger daughter of two

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an expatriates, ballet dancer Myriam Paredes and volleyball player Hernán Humaña, who was part of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

and later coached Canadians John Child and

Mark Heese Mark Heese (born August 15, 1969) is a Canadian male beach volleyball player. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Heese began playing beach volleyball at the age of 19 at the Balmy Beach Club in Toronto, and is a graduate of McMaster University where he ...

to the bronze medal at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. Humana-Paredes started playing beach volleyball at the age of 12 and four years later, was already representing Canada internationally. She also played competitive indoor volleyball for Storm Volleyball. She then attended

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

, majoring in

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

while playing CIS volleyball for the

York Lions The York Lions is the official name for the athletic varsity teams that represent York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports and, where applicable, ...

for four seasons from 2010 to 2014.

Volleyball career

In 2011, she won a silver medal at the

FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships The FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championship is a double-gender international beach volleyball tournament for athletes under the age of 21. The competition first took place in Le Lavandou, France in 2001. Results summary Men's tournament Wo ...

with

Victoria Altomare Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Years later, as Hernan talked with volleyball coach Garth Pischke, he learned his daughter Taylor wanted to join the beach volleyball scene and suggested that the two daughters be joined as a team. Both were trained by John Child. The new pair led Humana-Paredes to win the bronze medal at the World Under-23 Championships and be named the top female rookie in 2015 by the

International Federation of Volleyball International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. Humana-Paredes competed at several Grand Slam and World Cup events, reaching the round of 16 at the

2015 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships were staged from 26 June to 5 July 2015 in The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Apeldoorn, Netherlands. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships are organized every two years and Netherlands ...

Volleyball lineage flows through Canada’s budding beach duo
/ref> and the semi-finals at the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

. From August 23–28, 2016, she competed with Pischke at the

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, Grand Slam. Playing in Pool-A, they lost to Maria Antonelli and Lili of Brazil (21–11, 23–21), and

April Ross April Elizabeth Ross (born June 20, 1982) is an American beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic medalist. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with Jennifer Kessy, a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics with Kerri Walsh ...

and

Kerri Walsh Jennings Kerri Lee Walsh Jennings (born August 15, 1978) is an American professional beach volleyball player, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and a one-time Olympic bronze medalist. She is the beach volleyball leader in career victories as of 2016 hav ...

of the United States (21–16, 21–17) in straight sets. Playing against Carol and Ana Patrícia of Brazil, they won in straight sets (21–19, 26–24), placing them in 3rd in Pool-A. Humana-Paredes and Pavan won the gold medal at the

2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships The 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships was held in Hamburg, Germany from 28 June to 7 July 2019.

, defeating the American team of

and

Alix Klineman Alexandra Rose "Alix" Klineman (born December 30, 1989) is an American beach volleyball, 2020 Summer Olympics gold medalist, and former indoor volleyball player. In high school she was the 2006 Gatorade National Player of the Year. She was a fou ...

in straight-sets 2-0 (23-21, 23-21); for Canada's first medal ever at the event. This victory automatically qualified the Canadian pair for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. They achieved further success on the FIVB tour that summer with additional tournament wins at the Edmonton Open in late July, and at the Vienna Major in early August. These FIVB tour wins were followed by success on the AVP tour, with additional championship wins over Ross and Klineman at both the

Manhattan Beach Open The Manhattan Beach Open is a beach volleyball tournament held annually during the summer in Manhattan Beach, California. Held on the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the Open is the only professional volleyball tournament in which amateu ...

in mid-August and the Hawaii Open in late September. Humana-Paredes and Pavan were named to 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 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, which the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

caused to be delayed until 2021. The two went undefeated during pool play, winning every set. Entering the knockout rounds as the top seed, they defeated Spaniards

Liliana Liliana is derived from the Latin word 'lilium' or 'lilion', both mean 'lily' in English. Due to this, the name means "pure" and "innocent". The name is generally found in North America, though it is more common in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ...

/ Baquerizo in the Round of 16. In the quarter final, a rematch of the Commonwealth Games final with Australians Clancy/ Artacho del Solar, they lost two sets to one and were eliminated from the tournament.

Accolades

* Champion, 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships - Hamburg (representing Canada, with Sarah Pavan) * Champion, 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Winner (representing Canada, with Sarah Pavan) * FIVB Team of the Year 2019 (with Sarah Pavan) * FIVB Best Defensive Player, 2019 * FIVB Best Setter, 2018 & 2019 * AVP Best Defensive Player, 2019 * AVP Newcomer of the Year, 2019 * FIVB Most Improved Player, 2017 * FIVB Top Rookie, 2014

University

*2012-13

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga atoll. References

Islands of Tuvalu Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Nukufetau {{tuvalu-geo-stub ...

First-Team All-star *2011-12

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga atoll. References

Islands of Tuvalu Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Nukufetau {{tuvalu-geo-stub ...

First-Team All-star *2011-12

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

Second Team All-Canadian *2012

Female Athlete of the Year

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Humana-Paredes, Melissa 1992 births Living people Canadian women's beach volleyball players Pan American Games competitors for Canada Beach volleyball players at the 2015 Pan American Games York University alumni York Lions volleyball players Volleyball players from Toronto Canadian people of Chilean descent Beach volleyball players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Beach volleyball defenders FIVB World Tour award winners Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada Beach volleyball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Beach volleyball players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games