The summer was a whirlwind for Roberts Creek's Kyla Richey.
After finishing her fourth year of studies at the University of British Columbia and a fourth straight national volleyball championship, Richey turned her attention to her duties with the Canadian National Team.
In May she headed for Winnipeg for tryouts where she landed a spot on the team (her second consecutive year on Team Canada) and started training right away for the Pan Am Cup in Juarez, Mexico.
She said the trip was a unique experience, not so much on the volleyball court, but off it.
"Why they chose to host an international volleyball tournament in the crime capital of Mexico I have no idea," Richey recalled with a laugh. "There were military troops with machine guns everywhere. You were not allowed to leave the hotel.
"One of our team reps went out to get us some bottled water and she wasn't even allowed to walk across the street. She had to have a car take her across the street to the store. It was insane."
Richey said on the court, Team Canada did not fare too well.
"I think we were all disappointed in our play," she said. "Our team has been struggling a bit and we really haven't come together as a team. We all had high expectations for ourselves. We felt this was the year to go really far. When we didn't play well in Mexico, it's been hard to rebound from that."
Mixed in with the Pan Am Cup has been a series of matches with touring sides from Argentina and Holland, both with better results.
This week, Team Canada is in Puerto Rico later for the Norceca Continental Championships and then the Pan Am Games Oct. 15 to 21 in Mexico.
Following that tournament, she'll head back to UBC for a few weeks of play with the Thunderbirds and to catch up on her studies before heading back to Winnipeg in late December to begin preparing for summer Olympic qualifications in January.
If all goes well, Team Canada will qualify in January for London 2012 and she'll return to UBC just in time to finish off the regular season and make a run in the playoffs in search of national title number five.
"I'm missing the first two weeks of both semesters, so it's going to be pretty stressful, but it's pretty difficult to complain much," Richey said. "I've been so lucky that all the coaches with UBC and the national team have been so accommodating.
I'm able to have a great university experience, get my education, but at the same time play at a high level internationally. It's the best of two worlds."
