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By Holly Miyasaki
A Kelowna woman is thanking the community for its support over the weekend.
Tammy Thomas, volleyball player, held a fundraiser Saturday night in hopes of raising money to help with her Team Canada training in Toronto this spring and was impressed with the help provided by the community.
“It was spectacular,” says Thomas of the event, which saw live entertainment and a silent auction at The Bohemian Cafe Saturday night. “I’m in a little bit of shock of how well it went.”
The volleyballer raised at least $2,500 that night and says it will make a dent in the many costs associated with her upcoming year. She needs to raise $12,000.
Thomas departs for Toronto Thursday and will be participating in Team Canada’s training camp, which runs until March. Unfortunately, funding cuts have forced many players to find their own means to participate in the program.
“Team Canada lost a lot of their funding for beach volleyball,” explains Thomas. “Basically they’ve been cut from $5 million to $220,000–they don’t have enough money to fund a bunch of players.”
She plans to attend the training and represent Canada during the World Tour, which starts soon after.
The tour runs until October or November and sees competitors travel around the globe taking on the best of the best.
The tour also helps players accrue points toward Olympic eligibility. Thomas plans to continue working toward her goal of competing in the next two summer Olympics.
“I’ll probably continue for the next six years and two Olympics and keep pushing to make those teams,” she says.
Thomas, 24, is originally from Penticton, but moved to Kelowna to attend UBC Okanagan. There she played for OUC Heat and UBCO Lakers.
If you’d like to help Thomas with her journey to world volleyball domination you can e-mail t2beachvolleyball@hotmail.com.
entertainment@kelowna.com
See a gallery of Tammy Thomas in action below (photos contributed):
