Randal ("Randy") John Gingera (born April 25, 1968, in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is a former long-time member of the

Canada men's national volleyball team The Canada men's national volleyball team represents Canada in international volleyball competitions. They are overseen by Volleyball Canada, the governing body for volleyball in Canada. The team placed fourth place at the 1984 Olympic Games in L ...

and

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

Dinos star

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. Kid Volleyball as he was known was a three-time Canada West All-Star selection, CIAU All-Canadian in 1988 and '89, and unanimous choice for Canada West and CIAU Player of the Year in 1989, as the Dinos went undefeated, losing their only match of the year to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(at a tournament in Santa Barbara). A 6'2 right-handed outside hitter, Gingera was a member of the Canadian team that finished tenth at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. The team however lost a very close 5-set match to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as well as two other 5-set matches and narrowly missed on advancing to the tournament's quarterfinals. He was a member of the national team for eight years and also played professionally for six, two years each in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In France he played for

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a Communes of France, commune within the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), ...

in 1996-7 and the following season,

Stade Poitevin Stade Poitevin FC is a French football team based in the city of Poitiers, which was established in 1921. It was known as Poitiers FC between 2007 and 2018, and had a number of other names in its history. The club (as Stade Poitevin PEPP) spent the ...

. After retiring from competitive volleyball, Gingera returned to U. of C. to complete a B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Calgary. Graduating in 2000 he then earned an M.A. in Environmental Design, completing the degree in 2005.

Sources

''www.godinos.com''''www.ucalgary.ca''Canadian Olympic Committee webpage profile''www.explorare.net''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gingera, Randy Black Canadian sportspeople Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Canadian men's volleyball players Volleyball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic volleyball players for Canada Sportspeople from Calgary University of Calgary alumni 1968 births Living people